A New Chapter
by AGoldenCharm
Summary: It's a new chapter in Mike and Tina's life- their senior year- and it's going to be quite an experience.   Sequel to Story Untold.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I know there were some people looking for a sequel to _Story Untold_ (if you haven't checked it out yet, you ****should!)  
**

**And so I figured I'd start writing it! :) Let me know what you think!**

**

* * *

**

Mike Chang had found it extremely ironic that both he and Tina were going to visit their respective "homelands", as Tina liked to call it over the summer after their junior year. He also found it painfully ironic that even though they were _both_ going on vacation and they would _both_ be gone for the entire summer and they were _both_ going to _Asia_, for god's sake, he had had hardly any contact with her for nearly three months. They would e-mail each other nearly every day, which was fine, sure, but not nearly enough for him. And he didn't know what was going on in _her_ head, but he couldn't bear the time apart from her. Which, to be honest, made him feel a little bit pathetic, but it didn't really matter. He had long since discovered that he needed her so much that it was almost a little embarrassing.

It didn't matter because in less than an hour, he would be hopping on the plane again, transferring in Chicago, and then landing in Ohio. It killed him that she wouldn't get back for an entire week, but it was okay because it was the first step in being able to see her again. He had spent the entire day browsing stores, looking for the perfect souvenir for her, which he kind of regretted leaving off until the last minute. But he had finally decided on three separate items. An elegant Chinese fan, a set of black and gold jewelry (bracelets, pendants, earrings, the like), and a black qi pao (a traditional Chinese dress) with silver detailing that he knew would look amazing on her. In fact, he had found it incredibly difficult not to picture her wearing it as he paid for his selections.

His trip had been long. And even though he hadn't visited China since he was maybe seven years old and meeting his relatives again was very cool and all, he had never felt so homesick in his life. He had never really left Ohio except to visit China, and it was very, _very_ weird to be away from home for so long. In fact, the only time he had ever been away from home for that long was each summer at asian camp. And let's face it, last time he was at asian camp, he was with Tina the whole time, so it didn't even really count. So, he observed as he fastened his seat belt when the light came on overhead, this summer had been quite the accomplishment for him- seeing as how he had managed to make it through the whole summer without wanting to take the soonest flight over to Korea, where Tina was staying. (Boy would is parents have slaughtered him if they had seen a charge on his new credit card for an airplane ticket to freaking _Korea_). And yes, he had spent the entire summer without his parents, too, which wasn't really a big deal since his extended family in China acted protective enough for _both_ of his parents. And yes, his parents had gotten him a credit card, which he couldn't really use in China, anyway. Which was a good thing, he supposed, since he would have had to exercise a hell of a lot of will power to not buy everything in sight.

He could barely remember his flight- it was fifteen hours of pure torture. He vaguely remembered watching a chick flick, a horror film, and an episode of _Friends_ for the in-flight movies, but his mind had been buzzing non-stop the whole way that he couldn't even remember what he had eaten for the in-flight meal, nor could he remember when he had transferred flights in Chicago.

All he remembered was seeing his parents waiting for him at the gates and thinking to himself that that's _exactly_ where he'll be for Tina the week after, waiting to take her in his arms.

* * *

He had spent a really long time at the florist's the day Tina was due back, because he knew she didn't really care about flowers all that much, but he _n_ee_ded_ to have something for her when she showed up at the gates. Plus, her parents were going to be there as well, and it would have been really embarrassing if he hadn't acted like a complete gentleman about the whole situation. But he couldn't find the right flowers for her no matter how hard he tried and chose instead to drive over to the supermarket and pick up a big box of chocolates instead, because he _knows_ she has an incredible sweet tooth. He, however, picked up a bouquet of lilies for her mom, just for good measure.

He had had to beg his parents to let him drive over to the airport that day, especially since his parents saw no point in going through all that effort to see her then instead of just waiting for her to get back home. But he had appealed to his mom with huge sad eyes and at that point, he had won her over and that meant his dad had had to follow suit as well.

Somewhere, the intercom announced that Tina's flight from Korea had already landed and he felt his heartbeat pick up in a matter of milliseconds. He stood at the front, waiting as each wave of people walked through the doors. And each time it wasn't Tina, he could feel himself get a little bit deflated.

And then he saw her. She was walking alongside her parents, each of them hauling a huge suitcase, and he practically began jumping on his toes when she finally spotted him and broke into a huge smile.

"_Mike!_" She cried, running up to him and hugging him around his neck tightly. "You came to the airport?"

"Well, _yeah_," he laughed. "_Obviously_. Mr. Cohen-Chang," he nodded respectfully to Tina's dad. "Mrs. Cohen-Chang, these are for you." He thrust the lilies on her and she beamed at him. He was glad that he could still be at least a little charming. Thank god Mrs. Cohen-Chang liked him. "And _this_ is for _you_," he handed her the chocolates and she laughed, thanking him.

"I don't get anything?" Mr. Cohen-Chang interrupted, frowning.

Mike could feel himself flushing red, "Uh- I..."

"I'm kidding, Mike. You weren't supposed to get me anything."

Damn Mr. Cohen-Chang's jokes and Mike's inability to tell that that's all they ever were- jokes.

Relieved, Mike grinned, "I was actually planning on taking you guys back to Lima so you wouldn't have to call a taxi."

"That would be lovely," Mrs. Cohen-Chang nodded. "Thank you so much."

Mike wrapped his arm around Tina's shoulders and shrugged, "It's no problem. Come on- my car's parked right outside."

They made their way to his car, Tina's parents walking several feet ahead of them so Mike could comfortably kiss Tina on the forehead and whisper in her ear, "I've missed you so much."

"I missed you, too," Tina smiled. "I'm so glad to be back- I didn't know it was possible to be _that_ homesick."

"I know!" Mike nodded fervently.

She smiled up at him, weaving her arm around his waist, "Isn't this incredible, though? In less than a week, we're going to be _seniors_. That just completely blows my mind."

"_You _completely blow my mind." And even though he knew that he was being corny and lame again, he couldn't help it because she was finally _back_ and he could touch her and see her and just _know_ that they were together again.

She shoved him a little but failed to hide her smile, "Seriously, though, Mike! Isn't this crazy? I feel like I just got into high school. I don't know if I'm ready for college yet."

"Me, neither," he agreed. "But my parents are already asking me to pick colleges to apply to."

"Mine, too. In Korea, they spent _so_ much time talking to my relatives about which colleges they wanted to see me attend."

"I feel ya," Mike frowned. "I'm not ready for any of that. This is me," he nodded to his SUV, which was parked between two tiny sedans. He unlocked the doors and trunk and helped Tina's parents load the luggage into his car.

The seating arrangement in the car was kind of awkward. Tina had originally reached out to open the passenger door but her dad also made a slight movement as if he was ready to sit shotgun. Hastily, Tina bowed out and let her father take the seat and Mike knew by then that he was doomed to make conversation with Tina's dad the whole way back to Lima. Oh, the crazy things he did for his girlfriend.

* * *

Tina was sitting in his room on his bed, watching him as he performed a quick dance number for her that he had compiled while in China. It had been so long since he had danced for her and that she had sung for him, which genuinely upset him because that was what they _did_. All the time. And so he had spent a good two weeks in the park near his grandparents' apartment, diligently working on a number to present to her as soon as they both got back. He finished, breathless, and looked at her expectantly.

"That was incredible," she said earnestly. "I've never seen you dance like that before."

"I picked some of it up while in China," he shrugged. "I thought I'd try it out. Oh! That reminds me." He flipped open the lid to his suitcase, which was still not completely unpacked, and pulls out a big plastic bag that contained all of the souvenirs he had gotten for her.

"You _still_ haven't unpacked yet?" She asked incredulously. Yeah, Tina was a neat freak compared to him, and it made him feel a little lame that he couldn't even keep his room tidy when she practically had her entire bedroom color-coordinated.

He shook his head sheepishly, "I knew you were gonna harp on me about that."

She sighed, "You messy, messy boy."

He flashed her a smile and dipped down to plant a kiss on her forehead. "Here, T. This is for you." He handed her the bag.

"What's this?" She asked, half-bewildered, half-curious. She gingerly opened the bag and pulled out the case for the fan first. He watched her carefully for her reaction when she opened up the case and found the fan. "Wow, Mike! This is gorgeous."

He couldn't help but feel a little bit proud- though he was unsure if he was proud of his selection or his culture. "You like it?"

"It's beautiful."

"There's more," he urged her on. It was weird how excited he was getting about a couple of gifts. He had always liked getting Tina presents- it made him feel good and he wanted to give her gifts all the time for no particular reason at all- but she didn't really like to receive them, so this was a rare occasion.

"You're crazy," she laughed, but dove her hand back into the bag, this time pulling out the qi pao. She let out a little gasp, unfolding it and holding it out in front of herself. "_Mike_ this is so pretty!"

"More Chinese culture," Mike can't help but grin. "Sorry if you're getting tired of it. I know you can't really wear it all the time, but my parents want to go out to dinner with me and you so maybe you can wear it then?"

"This is too pretty _not_ to wear all the time," Tina said flatly. "I'm _so_ wearing this to school, I don't even care." And he couldn't help but feel kind of proud because she was always so loyal about stuff like that. She even had the keychain he had made her during asian camp last summer. It comforted him, in a way, every time she pulled out her keys and it was just dangling there. She reached into the bag again and pulled out the jewelry box, marveling at the pretty mahogany stain.

"There's stuff _inside_ of it," he laughed.

"Oh!" She opened the case slowly and pulled out the jewelry for a second before placing it slowly back into the box. She shut the lid and looked up at him with wide eyes.

Did she not like it? Did he pick the wrong color? Was she offended that he only got her things in black because she liked to dress in black?

However, his thoughts are chased away when she jumped on him and even though he was taken aback at first, he firmly supported her legs and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him so deeply that he wondered how he had lasted nearly three months without the taste of her lips.

"You spoil me, Mike Chang," she whispered in his ear.

And he didn't even care if that was a bad thing because she was _his _to spoil.

* * *

He woke up on the morning of the first day of school feeling energized. Ready to tackle senior year. Senior year meant a lot of things to Mike. It meant colleges, of course. It meant the glee club's last shot at winning at regionals and moving on to nationals. But it also meant _prom_ and even though it was a complete no-brainer that he was planning on asking Tina, he spent a _lot_ of time staring at his ceiling at night, trying to work out a way to ask her because he knew girls cared about that kind of thing- you know, the way they get asked to prom and everything. He wanted to find the _perfect_ way to ask her and it was practically killing him at night, trying to dream up a way to ask her.

He made himself some toast and popped it in his mouth before kissing his mom goodbye and grabbing his car keys. He was supposed to pick Tina up so they could get to school together. He was vaguely reminded of their first day of junior year, right after their summer at asian camp. He kind of missed asian camp. What he would give to spend two months with just Tina and no school and no parents...

"Hey T," he greeted her when he had arrived at her driveway and she had bounded into his car.

"Hi," she said giddily, swooping in for a kiss. "Is it wrong that I feel like I already have a case of senioritis coming on and it's barely even the first day of school?"

He laughed, "Not at all. I can already feel it creeping in. I just want to spend every day after school with you and forget about homework because I feel like I just _can't_ do work anymore."

"You're so bad," she smiled coyly, kissing his temple as he gunned the ignition.

He loved it when she did that. Turned their little conversations into innuendos. He had no idea how she did it but it just reminded him of how _confident_ she could be and for some reason, it was a complete turn-on for him. She would shoot him covert little winks and his stomach would just be doing backflips nonstop. _God_, the things she did to him.

And even though prom was months and _months_ away, he knew that he was going make every last moment of senior year- including prom- worth it between them. Because... well, because that's what Tina deserved.

* * *

**A/N: Yayy first chapter done! What did you think? **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I think these next couple of chapters will be a lot longer. Some drama coming up! :O Hope you enjoy. :)**

**

* * *

**Senior year was in no way as carefree and simple as it was cracked up to be, Tina soon realized. In fact, it had only been three or four weeks into the school year and she had already managed to sleep past three in the morning because of some assignment or project or test. She had already bombed a math test, and it was going to take a hell of a lot of studying to get make up for that grade. Plus it didn't help at _all_ that her ultra-conservative English teacher had issues with her clothes. Tina had practically spat in the woman's face after she had commented disdainfully on Tina's dress the other day. And because when Tina stressed, she stressed _hard_, she found that she was starting to get very testy _very_ easily.

When Rachel had received the solo for her favorite _Wicked _song, _I'm Not That Girl_, a week later during glee rehearsal, Tina had just _snapped_. And even though she was used to Rachel getting the solos- she had even gotten very good at smiling and congratulating her- she couldn't handle it this time. She couldn't handle it because she was tired of being the quiet asian that allowed people to step all over her. She was done with that. And she was usually good about the fact that she hadn't _really_ sung a complete solo since _True Colors_ a billion years ago, but now, it seemed like the only thing on her mind. Along with her demon English teacher.

"_Mr. Schuester_!" she stood up abruptly, causing Mike, who was sitting next to her, to jump a little in his seat. "Are you _seriously_ going to give Rachel _another_ solo? She's _clearly _a bratty diva that will stop at nothing to get what she wants and _you_ are not helping the situation!"

The entire room went dead silent. And rational Tina knew that she made a huge mistake by blowing up but irrational Tina reassured herself that everyone in the room totally agreed with her- Rachel needed to stop getting solos because it was really getting to her head.

"Tina," Mr. Schuester said softly, "I didn't know you wanted this solo so badly. But it's really no excuse to call Rachel-"

"It's not even about _this_ solo, Mr. Schue," Tina snapped. "It's about _every single one_. Rachel, I _know_ you have an incredible voice and all but there are _so_ many talented people in this room and you just walk _all_ over them and it's completely unfair. And as a tribute to you..." She stormed out, unable to see straight. She hurried to her locker, since she wasn't really sure where else to head off. She sank to the floor, her eyes beginning to become wet with tears. _God_, Rachel made her so mad. And even though Tina wasn't used to blowing up at people- on the contrary, she usually kept to herself- this made her feel like all her pent-up aggression was just spilling out. Besides, Rachel had absolutely _no _filter when it came to her quest for success and she needed to learn when to keep her mouth shut before some Broadway agent shot her in the head for bragging _non-stop_.

"Tina?"

She looked up slowly. Mike was dashing to her side, but his eyes weren't marked with disgust or annoyance by her outburst. He actually looked extremely concerned. He took a seat next to her.

"_T_," was all he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

She subconsciously shrugged his arm away and tried her best not to look at his hurt expression.

"...Tina? Are... are you okay? Is something wrong?"

Tina stared at him in disbelief. "_Wrong_? Of _course _there's something wrong! There's something wrong with Rachel Berry one-upping every single one of us in glee club and Mr. Schue being totally okay with it. There's something wrong with failing a math test even though math has been my favorite subject since I could reel off my multiplication tables. There's something wrong with the fact that my English teacher _hates_ me and I'm pretty damn sure that it's because of the way I dress."

He was completely silent. She saw his arm twitch, as if he was about to reach out to touch her again, but thought better of it or something.

"Tina," he finally whispered softly, touching her arm, "I think you're just a little stressed out."

"Ya think?" She retorted sarcastically.

The bell rang and everyone was filing out of their classrooms. Mike took her hand. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" She grumbled as he led her back into the choir room.

"I think you might owe Rachel an apology," he said softly.

And even though she knew he was right, she was seeing red again. Rachel was standing next to Mr. Schuester, her eyes a little red. _Good_, she thought bitterly, _maybe she needed a good cry to knock some sense into her head_.

However, she decided to play civil. Mostly because Mike was right there and she would have hated to continue to give him the idea that she was a total freak that couldn't keep her head on straight for her life. "Rachel, I'm sorry for being so rude to you today. You're a great singer and you definitely deserve the solos you sing. I- I've been kind of stressed out lately and I just snapped. I'm sorry."

Rachel gave her a weak smile, "That's perfectly all right, Tina. But I did ask Mr. Schue did give you the solo for _I'm Not That Girl_."

Damn her for being the bigger person in this situation. Rachel Berry was never the bigger person. And this one time Tina wanted her to steal the spotlight so she could continue to hate her, Rachel decides to be the model student.

"Thanks," Tina said softly. "But I don't think I'm up to singing this week. You should sing it. I'm sure you'll sound incredible."

They hugged awkwardly and Mike took her hand again as they walked out of the classroom.

"That was a good thing you did back in there," Mike piped up.

She mumbled incoherently, not over her frustration yet.

"Tina..." He was pleading. "Talk to me."

She felt the tears coming again. Mostly because she knew that he was just trying to be there for her but right now all she wanted was to be alone. All she wanted was a self-pity party because right now, she couldn't handle everything else.

"Can you bring me home?" She croaked, the tears beginning to fall freely.

Mike, being Mike, doesn't pry further. He drove her home in silence.

* * *

However, Mike, being Mike, showed up at her house two hours later with a box of Godiva chocolates and a hopeful smile that Tina could barely get over.

"How did you get in here?" She asked when he showed up in her room.

"Your mom let me in."

She grumbled, but the steam was beginning to escape her body. He probably sensed this, because he immediately opened his arms for her, tossing the chocolates onto her bed. She stared at his open arms wearily, then crashed into them, her head pressed tightly against his chest. He enveloped her.

"Tina," he murmured in her ear. "It's gonna be okay."

"You must hate me," she mumbled, even though she was afraid that it might be the truth.

"Never."

"I... I don't know what's wrong with me. It's barely a month into the school year and I'm already breaking down."

He pulled back a little, gazing at her intently. "Breaking down?"

"I do this all the time," she moaned. "Every year, there's always something that gets me in my sweatpants eating Ben & Jerry's on the couch. There's always something that drives me over the edge."

"Not last year," he cocked his head, confused.

"Last year... last year was different."

"How so?"

"I had you for the first time," Tina looked down at her lap, unable to meet his gaze. "You... you kept me sane."

He cracked a small smile, "So am I slipping this year?"

"_No_," she insisted. She took a deep breath. "No. I just... I take you for granted now. And suddenly, all I can focus on are my own issues. I'm selfish like that."

"No you're not," he kissed her forehead gently. "You're stressed out. That's completely understandable. And believe me, you won't be breaking down anymore."

She narrowed her eyes. "Why do you say that?"

"Because I won't let you. Whenever you feel like you're stressing out, you come find me. And I swear to god I will find a way to fix it."

And Mike, being Mike, leaned down to kiss her fiercely to prove his point.

* * *

Tina had slowly gotten back into the swing of the new school year. She had aced her last math quiz and Mr. Schuester had graciously given her a solo in their next group number. Out of pity, perhaps, she mused, but she really, _really_ needed the power of the music to get her back on her feet.

The one thing that had not stopped haunting her was Mrs. Gallagher, her English teacher, who had just given Tina a C- on her latest essay. Fuming, Tina stormed out of English class to her locker, where Mike was waiting loyally.

"T, what's wrong?" He noticed her rage immediately.

Without a word, she shoved the essay into his hands and waited as he let his eyes scan over the paper. She had expected an immediate reaction, but he had continued to read through the comments that Mrs. Gallagher had written.

"This is ridiculous," he finally proclaimed. "Your ideas are 'underdeveloped'? I've never seen so much thought put into _Hamlet_." The fact that he was furious as well emboldened her.

"I seriously think she hates me," Tina wailed. "And I don't know what to do."

Mike stroked her hair gently, "We'll think of something, T."

"Maybe... maybe I could dress... like everyone else," Tina said slowly.

"What? Are you serious? You can't do that!"

The fact that he was completely stunned by the very idea of her shedding her goth clothes for "normal" clothes kind of blew her away. She had always thought that Mike had simply stomached her style because he was _Mike_ and he was too chivalrous to complain about it. She realized that she was actually rather flattered that her style meant enough to him that even the idea of changing it caused him to sound so disbelieving.

"I don't know," she frowned. "Maybe I should experiment. What if it _is_ the way I dress?"

Mike looked thoughtful. "I don't know... I mean, assuming that she actually hates the way you dress, she could still give you bad grades because she knows this is your style, no matter what you wear."

"I guess so," Tina shrugged. But the idea was still brewing in her head as they headed off to history together.

* * *

Tina was tearing apart her closet in search for just a normal sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. This reminded her too much of when Principal Figgins had thought that she was a messenger of the vampires or something. God, people had such _issues_ with "abnormal" behavior. What was so abnormal with dressing the way she chose, anyway? If people wanted to parade their Cheerios uniform around the school, people were totally okay with that. If people wanted to wear sweatpants day and night, no one had issues with _that_. Where was that thin boundary line that she seemed to overstep almost _daily_? Where was that line? Because for once in her life, she kind of wanted to be able to locate it. Not only for herself, or for her grades, but also kind of for _Mike_. Poor Mike, who was so socially acceptable but somehow managed to get mixed up with the likes of _her_. She wanted to be able to, for once, be normal. For him.

She couldn't find the gray sweatshirt that she had worn last time she had had a wardrobe crisis, but she found a red blouse that her mom had bought for her ages ago in hopes that she would wear it for her second cousin's baby shower or something. She was pretty sure that she didn't end up wearing the blouse. Instead, she had decided to spite her mother by wearing a blood-red dress with black lace and a corset bodice. Her mom, in return, had decided not to speak to her for three days after that. Hesitating, she pulled it off of its hanger. This was something she had to try. Just to make sure.

She unearthed a pair of dark blue jeans and slipped them on. She would fix her own problems because that's what Tina Cohen-Chang _did_.

Extra points for the blade of righteous equality today, she thought determinedly as she stormed out of the house, where Mike was waiting to pick her up.

* * *

**A/N: There goes another chapter! :) **

**I love the blade of righteous equality. ;) I think it's hilarious.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hope everyone is enjoying so far! :) Some people were asking about the Blame It On the Alcohol episode, which I didn't incorporate in _Story Untold_, so I figured I would incorporate it soon in an upcoming chapter.  
**

**

* * *

**Mike had never _really_ understood the reasoning behind the way Tina dressed, but he was totally okay with it because it wasn't really that he had a problem with her being different. In fact, he was actually very used to her being different from everyone else because it was _true_. There was no one else like Tina and that's the way he liked it. Plus, Tina pretty much owned the look, which he imagined would have been very difficult for anyone else. She could pull off all those black dresses in a way that he believed no one else in the school could. More times than he could count, they had collapsed on the floor or on his bed or on her couch and he had practically ripped the dress off of her because _yeah_, they turned him on, even if the rest of the school didn't feel the same way. And to be perfectly honest, he was glad. Because he got jealous pretty easily and the last thing he wanted was for Tina to go through something similar to Rachel's Brittney Spears phase and have the whole school drooling after her. Especially since Tina was thousands of times hotter than Rachel anyway. So if she showed up to school with a blouse barely covering her midriff and a skirt showcasing her butt, the entire school would have been chasing after her, and then he would have to kick some ass.

So it was kind of weird for him to show up on her driveway the next day and watch her shuffle out, looking extremely uncomfortable in a siren red blouse and a pair of tight jeans that he couldn't stop staring at because... well, because it wasn't often that he could ogle at her legs.

"I feel like one giant identity crisis," she mumbled exasperatedly as she climbed into his car.

"You are so hot."

And yeah, it was kind of inappropriate at the moment, especially with her not being cool with what she was wearing but hey, he was a teenage guy and he had hormones, right? And at that moment, his hormones were going completely _insane_.

"_Mike_," she narrowed her eyes at him, as expected.

He blinked rapidly to clear the thoughts that were floating in his brain because, well, they were due at school in less than fifteen minutes and what _he_ had in mind really required a lot more than that...

"Mike, _stop_," she whined. "You're just trying to make me feel better, I'm not an idiot."

He swallowed because that was so _not_ the case. Trying his best to keep his eyes focused on the road, he said through a clenched jaw, "T, you have _no_ idea how incredible you look right now." Because it was the truth. He kept stealing glances at the ruffly sleeves of her blouse and the way it made her arms look long and lean and her _legs_. He couldn't help but groan a little because _god_ they looked fantastic.

"I don't believe you," she frowned, crossing her legs.

"You don't have to," he croaked, swinging his car into a parking spot. He scrambled out of the car after her- she was clearly being huffy about her clothes. "T, wait up."

She slowed a little and he swung his arm around her shoulders.

"This better work," she grumbled as they walked into the school. "Either she gives me the grades I deserve or she doesn't and I complain because there's no way in hell I'm putting up with this anymore."

And even though Mike knew she was stressing hard again, he couldn't help but feel a little bit proud of the fact that his girlfriend had such a hard edge to her. That had always been something that he had found incredibly endearing about Tina- her determination and independence. She called it feminism, but he didn't really know if it qualified as feminism. It wasn't really about protecting the rights of women for her. It was more like protecting...vulnerable people. She didn't let herself get stepped all over, and Mike loved that about her.

"It will work," he assured her gently. They stopped by her locker, where she extracted her English literature textbook. "And if it doesn't, _I'd_ like to give Mrs. Gallagher a piece of my mind."

She shook her head, "Hopefully, it won't come to that. The last thing I'd want is for you to get caught in all my dumb issues."

Except that's exactly where he wanted to be, because that's where _she _was...

* * *

"Progress?" He asked her as they walked out of glee rehearsal and to his car together. He hadn't had the chance to talk to her all day, which was very rare and also relatively annoying because he had gotten so used to being around her all day. She had stayed behind in her math class and had texted him to go on to history without her.

"Not really," Tina sighed. "I went up to her after class to talk about my essay but she said that she didn't have time because she had a staff meeting to go to. But she did give a bit of a double-take when she saw my outfit."

"Maybe it was a good double-take," Mike suggested, opening the passenger seat door for her even though she didn't really like that because she usually rolled her eyes, insisting that she could open the door herself. But she seemed really out of it that day, so he figured it would be okay this time.

"I have no idea," she shrugged as she got into the car. "But I was thinking... What if she thinks I'm being pathetic? Like trying to impress her or something?"

Mike wanted to tell her that that was impossible, but the possibility of that being the case was still existent so he sighed. "I don't know, T. Maybe you should just go back to your normal clothes and then confront her about the whole thing?"

"Because I'm worried that she'll like...report me or something."

"I doubt she can do that," Mike frowned as he started up the engine. "Want to go get some coffee?'

"Sure," she sighed. "I could do with some caffeine right about now."

So he took her to the coffee shop near the school and parked, taking her hand as they got out of the car. "T, everything will be okay. You need to stress less," he kissed her temple.

"Stress will always be an inherent issue for me, Mike. I'm asian."

He couldn't help but crack up at this, especially since it hit so close to home for him. No one understood the asian life quite like Tina did. And it was kind of nerdy and all, but that was something that he and Tina would always be able to share. Asian experiences. And asian kisses from time to time as well...

* * *

Tina had this little idiosyncrasy that involved doodling literally _everywhere_. Mike's history notebook was absolutely smothered with her little drawings and notes and whatnot, and he kind of loved it. Most of them were little hearts that she'd draw absent-mindedly while their teacher lectured, but occasionally he would get swirly borders around his notes or little animals or even like...fruits, but he thought it was extremely endearing, mostly because it was almost like she was marking her territory.

They were sitting in history next to each other- it was actually kind of odd, since the class didn't have assigned seats or anything, but whenever Mike sat down first, no one ever took the seat next to him as if they all knew that that seat belonged to Tina. It was kind of gratifying, actually, since he used to keep his backpack on the chair next to him in order to save her a seat. But now, it was completely unnecessary because they all _knew_ that he was saving the seat for her. Mr. West, the history teacher, as talking about the War of 1812 or something, and Mike really wasn't paying attention at all. His eyes were trained on Tina, who was lying on her arm on her desk, doodling absent-mindedly on his notebook. She was so adorable. Her eyes were heavy-looking, though. Heavy and sad. It actually hurt him to see her like this. If she didn't straighten things with her English teacher anytime soon, he would take it upon himself because Tina Cohen-Chang did _not _deserve to be upset.

* * *

Mike was rather shocked when, after glee rehearsal, Brittany approached him at his locker. Tina was still in the rehearsal room, practicing a dance number with Rachel (they were supposed to do a duet together for the group soon). He hadn't really talked to Brittany in quite some time now. During their sophomore year, they had been kind of close- especially because when the football guys and the Cheerios went out to the movies and stuff, he would always end up talking to her. And more times than not, they had broke off from the group and went out to get ice cream or something because he knew that Brittany had a huge sweet tooth and he didn't mind treating her- it was the gentlemanly thing to do, after all. He had gotten plenty of jabs and suggestive eyebrows from the other guys whenever they had done this, but he had never really been able to see Brittany like that. She was...well, she slept around a lot, and that was the last thing he had wanted in a girlfriend. There was one point when she had asked him to Breadstix for a date, but he had politely declined because he really didn't want to give her the idea that he was willing to sleep with her or anything. Still, they talked sometimes, and he was one of the few people who understood her ridiculous ideas, but things had never gotten any further than that. They drifted apart, though, after all the glee drama since the jocks and the Cheerios started hanging out less and less. But ever since he had started going out with Tina, he really hadn't paid any attention to her at all.

"Hi Mike," Brittany said softly, leaning against the wall of lockers.

"Hi Britt," he smiled, closing his locker to face her. "What's up?"

"Artie broke up with me," she frowned. Her big doe eyes were slanted downward with sorrow.

"Oh no!" Mike furrowed his brow sympathetically. "That's terrible. Did he say why?"

"He said that I had feelings for Santana."

"Is...is that true?" Mike blinked.

"I don't know," Brittany said in her usual slow manner. "Does making out count as feelings?"

Feeling kind of uncomfortable, Mike shrugged. "Not necessarily. Do you think you like Santana more than you like Artie?"

"I don't know," Brittany said again. "I like kissing Santana. She's hot."

"Britt, that's not the point," Mike said gently. "It boils down to whether you like boys or girls...or both."

"What boils?" She blinked.

"I- never mind," he shook his head. "But you should decide, you know. If you prefer being with boys or girls."

"Help me decide," she pleaded. "I don't know how."

"What?"

"Help me decide," she repeated.

And before he had time to react, she was pressing her lips onto his. Brittany's lips tasted different than Tina's. They were soft but almost slightly acidic, while Tina's were much sweeter. _Okay, really not the point here. What the hell was going on?_ He reached forward and pushed her away roughly.

"_Brittany_! What are you _doing_?"

"I need help," she begged, her eyes wide. "We used to be friends, right? We used to hang out all the time. I need your help because I don't know what to do, Artie won't let me kiss him anymore."

"Yeah, but I'm dating _Tina_," he spluttered, backing away from her slowly. "You can't just _kiss_ me."

"No, you really can't."

_Tina_. It as her voice and it was unmistakable and _shit_ she probably saw Brittany kiss him. Sure enough, as he swung around, Tina was staring at the two of them with the stoniest expression he had ever seen in his entire life.

"Brittany, if you'll excuse us," Tina's eyes were shooting daggers at Brittany, who was looking extremely confused. "Let's go, Mike."

Was...was she not mad at him? She had to be, her voice was so steely and fierce and there was no way she _wasn't_ mad...

He followed her helplessly out of the school and toward his car.

"Tina, _Tina_, that- that wasn't what it-"

"What it looked like, I know," Tina interrupted him. "Don't worry, I saw and heard the whole thing. I know you didn't kiss her."

This news shocked him completely. "Wait...you saw? Am I... am I not in trouble?" He asked sheepishly.

"Not really," she sighed. "I'm not an idiot, Mike." She leaned against his car. "If I have the facts, I'm not going to make any assumptions. It was what it was."

"Then... then why are you mad?" He asked weakly.

Her eyelashes were doing the thing where they fluttered up and down when she as nervous. "Because... because even though we've been going out for so long I get scared that you'll want to go back to her."

"B- back to her?" Mike became genuinely bewildered at that point.

"I mean, _yeah_. She's like the poster girl for social protocol. She's a Cheerio, for god's sake. I always get scared that you'll grow tired of putting up with me and my...abnormal behavior."

"Back to her?" He repeated again. "What do you mean? I was never..._with_ her."

It was Tina's turn to become confused. He watched as her eyes grew wide. "You...you weren't?"

"_No_, what gave you that idea?"

She ignored this. "How come you never _told_ me this?'

"I- I didn't even know you thought that Brittany and I went out! What gave you the idea that we ever did?"

"I watched you a lot earlier in high school," she admitted. "You hung around her. A _lot_. Artie- Artie told me that you and her had... you know, had sex."

He was scandalized at the very thought, "_Tina_. You...you thought... _No!_"

"You're...you're a virgin?" She whispered, as if afraid to hear the answer.

"I- yeah, I am. I've never dated anyone before you. Well, I got married to this girl in second grade on the playground but-"

Tina cut him off, pouncing on him and he caught her in his arms. Her lips crashed onto his and he became so _so_ aware of how delicious her lips tasted against his. About how perfectly her body fit with his. About how lucky he was to have her.

"I was so worried," she said softly in his ear.

He laughed, "I feel like you should be more worried now that you know I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Doesn't show," she murmured, nibbling playfully at his ear.

He shivered, "Thanks. And... and I'm really grateful that you trusted me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I thought that when you saw Brittany kiss me, you'd blow up and overreact."

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"I know. But I was afraid that you'd assume that I did."

"Mike, we've been going out for _so_ long. I trust you. Just don't take advantage of that," she smiled at him.

"Never. I would never do that to you."

"I know."

* * *

**A/N: Yayy another chapter down! :) What did ya'll think?**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: More? :) Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**Tina knew inherently that dating Mike had almost raised her social status in a way. People suddenly knew who she was, for better or for worse. On certain occasions, it was a good thing because suddenly, she wasn't invisible anymore and people didn't just walk _into _her as if she wasn't even physically present. But it could be a bad thing at some points, too, because obnoxious jocks would heckle him for dating her and she would just feel _awful_ until Mike had soothed her and reassured her that those guys were crazy and didn't know what they were talking about, anyway. And sure, since Mike was also in the glee club, he and Tina both got slushied on a regular basis (which was okay, actually, because they could then spend some time together in the bathroom cleaning each other off instead of going to class. Last time they had somehow ended up making out against one of the sinks), but it was almost bewildering to go down the hallways and to have someone she had never seen before in her life greet her. Like the short guy with the horn-rimmed glasses that had beamed at her and waved as she walked by the other day.

"Who was that?" Mike asked curiously as he came up from behind her.

"I have no idea," she said truthfully, staring as the guy walked away. "I thought maybe you'd know."

"How would I know?" Mike laughed.

"Because!" Tina said defensively, "I don't _know_ people. _You _know people. You know like everyone in this school."

"I don't know _everyone_," he folded his arms.

"Yeah, but you have to admit," she shrugged, "You're a football player. You just know more people than I do."

He arched an eyebrow, "Why does that even matter?"

She didn't really know, but for some reason, their respective social hierarchy differences had always made her a little uncomfortable. It had quelled her that he had not been involved with Brittany, but there was still something unnerving about their uneven footing at McKinley.

Sighing, she leaned into him and he immediately snaked his arm around her waist.

"What's wrong?" Mike asked, his voice laced with concern.

"I'm so tired of high school."

* * *

Tina didn't really like her French class for two main reasons. One, Mike wasn't in it (he took Spanish with Mr. Schuester). Two, her only other friend in that class was _Artie_. It wasn't too bad, usually, since they sat in opposite sides of the room. But she found that ever since he had broken up with Brittany, he had been trying to make conversation with her as they walked out of class. Usually, he commented about the class or the teacher or sometimes even glee club, but she usually airily dismissed these comments and ended the conversation by walking away. She had had enough problems with him.

"Tough lesson, huh?" He piped up from behind her as she was strolling out after class one day.

They had spent the period learning about relative pronouns, which _were_ kind of a challenge, but she just shrugged. "I guess."

"Tina, could we talk?"

She turned around to face him and found his eyes wide behind his glasses. And she had known him for long enough to know that his expression betrayed total seriousness.

"Sure," she said quietly. He led her out of the room, wheeling down to an empty classroom nearby. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Tina..." He began slowly. "Do you know why I broke up with Brittany?"

"Because you think she likes Santana," Tina replied, sitting down in an empty chair, folding her legs. She had heard Brittany tell Mike this the other day when the damn girl had stuck her tongue down his throat.

"Well, maybe a little. I realized that Brittany and I aren't right for each other. And Tina, it only helped me realize that I still want to be with you. That _we_ are right for each other."

"Artie..."

"No, listen," he interrupted. "I still have feelings for you, okay? Sometimes, I can't stop thinking about you. I know I didn't treat you so well back during our sophomore year. But I've grown up since then. Really. I promise."

"Artie, it doesn't matter what you think you're like now," Tina frowned. "I'm with Mike and I'm _more_ than happy with him."

"I thought you'd say that," he pursed his lips. "But Tina, don't you... don't you think _we _have more in common?"

"What do you mean?"

"We're...we're _us_. We used to chill all the time even before the glee club started. Hell, we _signed up_ for glee together. We were the same outcasts. What do you have in common with _him_?" The way Artie had said "him" made Tina want to slap him. Yet there was always a bit of a foul when it came to hitting a handicapped guy...

"We have plenty in common," she sniffed.

"Being asian doesn't count."

And she had to admit, on the surface, it really must have seemed like her and Mike's relationship was built on their shared ethnicity, but she knew that there was so much more. Their relationship worked because they loved each other... because Mike treated her the way she deserved to be treated (often times way better than she deserved), and she reciprocated. It was a quality that her relationship with Artie had never had.

"You wouldn't understand," she replied quietly.

"He's a _football_ player, Tina. Just like Brittany's a _Cheerio_." Artie pressed on. "Do you really think your relationship will last? I just... I just feel like he won't want to stick around the way _I _want to stick around with you. You guys don't really belong together."

And even though she despised him for even saying that, her mind began to reel anyway. Because how many times had she stayed up at night, worrying that Mike would realize that she was a social suicide plan? Because it was _true_. They had never hung out before glee club. They had never really been friends before glee. He had his friends and she had hers, and they would often have nights when she would watch chick flicks with Kurt and Mercedes while he went out bowling with the guys.

"You can't tell me who I belong with," her voice became steely and dark. She turned on her heel and stomped out of the room, furious for what he had said. Because even though she didn't believe his words, the seed had been planted. And it was growing rapidly. And that scared the hell out of her.

* * *

They were in Mike's room, sitting cross-legged with their knees touching. They were doing their history project together because of _course_ they paired up immediately when the teacher had instructed the class to do so. Mike was patiently cutting out pictures while Tina glued them onto the poster board that they had bought earlier that afternoon. They were mostly silent, which made her feel kind of weird.

"Do you think I'd be any good at cheerleading?" She asked absent-mindedly.

He blinked rapidly at her words. "_What_? I...I don't know. Don't you hate that kind of thing?"

She veered the conversation in a different direction. "We should go bowling sometime."

He stared at her. "T... are you okay?"

"Well? Can we go bowling?" Her mind was muddled. Completely muddled and she had no idea what was going on in it at the moment but she felt like she had an endless stream of questions for him, each one necessary to reassure herself that they were okay...

"Sure," he soothed. "Have you ever gone before?"

"No," she shrugged. "I was hoping you could teach me." Bowling. She knew Mike liked to go, especially with Finn and Puck. He had offered to bring her once a long time ago but she had politely declined because it was his boys' night thing. But now, she felt like she wanted- or needed- to be a part of it.

"Of course I can," he reached out and rested his hand on her knee. "Where is this all coming from?"

"I guess... I guess I'm feeling kind of lonely," she said softly. But she wasn't even sure if that was really the issue. She couldn't really tell what was _wrong_ but something was unsettling in her heart.

"Aww, T," he dropped the scissors and sort of walked on his knees toward her until he was sitting right next to her, encompassing her in his arms. "You don't have to feel lonely. I'm right here."

And even though she _knew_ he was, something was still bothering her.

* * *

"Have you given it any thought?"

It was Artie again. Damn him for taking French. Damn all her other friends for_ not_ taking French.

"Given what any thought?" She feigned innocence because _god_ she had not stopped thinking about it at all.

"About us."

"There is no _us_," she retorted.

"About what _could_ be us," he wheeled after her at an uncanny speed. She was never able to understand how he could maneuver around so swiftly in his wheelchair. Practice, she supposed. "Tina, I really believe that we can have another shot."

"I don't want another shot," she said flatly.

"Maybe you do. You broke up with me because I was a bad boyfriend. And now I'm saying give me another chance because I can be better."

She could feel tears forming in the corners of her eyes because it didn't matter if he could be better or not. All she felt was overwhelmed with emotions and confusion and she didn't need his persisting questions to make it more complicated. She ran away, off to her locker, because that was all she could think of doing.

* * *

She had a dream that night that she was standing on a cliff and the rocks were crumbling beneath her. The sky was dark, the kind of midnight blue that let no light escape. She could feel herself about to fall. Mike and Brittany were sitting on a different cliff across from her, their eyes closed and their faces content and calm. She had screamed for their help, for _anyone_ to help. But neither of them had heard her. She was gripping tight onto the ledge, her fingers chafing from the rugged stones. Artie had floated by in his wheelchair.

_"All you have to do is ask," he raised an eyebrow_.

But she didn't want to. She didn't want to, but that meant that the cliff was going to disintegrate beneath her. Her hand slipped a little and everything after that happened so fast- the rocks broke beneath her and the skin on her hand broke open on one of the rocks. There was a lot of blood. Blood everywhere. She screamed as she fell, scratched herself against the rocks, and cried helplessly. She could see Mike waving to her as she fell.

She woke up with a start, sweat forming at her hairline. _Shit_, she thought to herself, throwing her tangled comforters off of her body. She felt around her nightstand for her cell phone, hitting speed dial two immediately.

The phone rang several times before she heard his groggy voice.

"'Lo?"

"_Mike_. Mike. Oh, god."

"Tina?" His voice became much sharper and clearer, as if he had suddenly sat up in his bed.

She started crying. She couldn't help it. Tears began to fall and her heavy breathing rapidly became soft sobs.

"Tina, are you okay?"

"Nnf," she managed.

"God, okay, I'm coming over. Don't hang up, okay, love? Don't hang up."

She started to drift off a little as she heard his voice continue the same mantra: "_Don't hang up_". She didn't, but her grip on the phone slackened. She was pretty much sub-conscious, because the next thing she remembered was his voice again.

"_T, _I'm here. Open the door for me, okay?"

She jolted out of bed, suddenly awake and aware of the fact that her boyfriend was standing outside their front door. She tip-toed down the stairs and unlocked the front door.

"Mike..."

He was standing there in his pajamas- a soft white v-neck t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants. He stepped into the house immediately, reaching out to hug her to his body. His body was cold from being outside.

"Tina, you scared me to death. Are you okay?" He sat down on the bottom step of the staircase, pulling her into his lap.

She started tearing up again. "Nightmare."

"Aww it'll be okay," he kissed her hair. "It was just a bad dream. It's gone. Completely gone."

"I know but he-"

"He? Who's he?"

"_Artie_."

She could feel his grip around her waist stiffen. "What...what about Artie?"

"He... he said things. Things that I can't stop thinking about."

"Like what?" His voice became very, very low and she could hardly stand it.

"That you and I weren't meant for each other. That you wouldn't want to stay with me for very much longer."

He was dead silent. As in he had even stopped breathing, since she was pressed up against his chest and it had stopped rising and falling. "Tina..." He started slowly, "Of _course_ he's going to say stuff like that. He's jealous. He wants to be with an incredible girl like you," he paused to kiss her swiftly, "and I can understand why. People would kill to be with you."

"That's not true," Tina whispered. "Is he right, though? About us not belonging together?"

"Of course not! Do... do you still have feelings for him?"

She was very hesitant to answer this, as she wasn't even sure what the answer was. "I don't know," she could feel his breath hitch at these words. "I can't tell if I still have feelings for him or I'm just severely affected by what he had said the other day."

Mike stood up slowly, holding out a hand for her to help her up. "I'd like it if you could find out."

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "I want _you_. I know I want you. But I feel like something hasn't quite ended with Artie yet."

He was being painfully understanding. "I know. Just... just let me know when you reach some type of closure, okay?" He slowly bent down to kiss her cheek before leaving. She heard his car start up and she watched out the window as he drove away into the night.

* * *

**A/N: This was a tough chapter to write, mostly because I hate tearing Mike and Tina apart, but we'll see how it goes. :) What did you guys think?**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: New chapter! Hope you all enjoy. :)**

**

* * *

**Ever since Tina had expressed her confusion over Artie, Mike hadn't been able to concentrate in...well, in anything. He had already forgotten to do two math assignments- thank god the teacher hadn't checked them in- and he had almost left school instead of going to glee rehearsal three times now.

Things with Tina weren't...bad, per se. But things were definitely different. They were both more aloof, but almost in a respectful and civilized way. Even though he kind of despised Artie with a flaming passion at this point, he could be civil. He could respect her decision, _really_. But each time he walked by Artie, he could feel his insides boiling and all he wanted to do was throw his wheelchair down the hallway.

Tina had stayed behind in her English class for the second time this week- whether or not it was to avoid walking with him to history he had no idea- and so he dawdled at his locker for a while to kill time. Spotting Artie at his locker nearby, Mike bit his lip. As much as he hated confrontation, he needed to talk to Artie. He made up his mind and strode determinedly toward him.

"Artie, could I talk to you?"

Artie wheeled around to face him, a slight smile on his lips. "Sure, what's up?"

"I- I just wanted to say... that you're putting Tina through a lot of suffering right now. And that if you really cared about her, you wouldn't do this to her."

"Easy for you to say. She's _with_ you."

"_No_." God, how could he even _suggest_ that any of this was _easy _on him? "It's _not _easy for me to say because I'm just watching her battle herself in her head and I'm tired of seeing her this upset. What have you been saying to her?"

"Nothing," Artie narrowed his eyes. "I talked to her two or three times, tops. I'm fairly certain that she's having a difficult time deciding on her own- not because I'm influencing her."

"We- we were doing fine before you brought this up with her," Mike said quietly.

"Don't blame this on me," Artie replied defensively. "This has always been on her mind, you know. Your guys' differences. It would have continued to be a problem. I just brought it to her attention again so she could make an informed decision."

Mike glared, "An _informed decision_? She chose _me_."

"I'm _aware_," Artie snapped. "Especially considering the fact that she broke up with me after you two started getting it on at _asian_ camp or whatever." His scathing tone when he said "asian" caused Mike to clench his fists tightly. Because even though Mike wasn't exactly super patriotic about China or anything, he got pretty damn annoyed when people made jabs at his culture.

"She broke up with you because you weren't treating her the way she deserved to be treated."

"I was an asshole. I know that. But I'm willing to change for her."

Mike shrugged as he heard the warning bell ring. "I didn't have to change for her."

And he knew it sounded a little pretentious and maybe it made him seem kind of full of himself but at that point, he wasn't even seeing straight. He turned on his heel and left Artie by his locker as he stormed off to history class.

* * *

He had started packing himself lunch these past few days because he didn't really have patience for _anything_ anymore- including the painfully slow lunch ladies who took an eternity just to pass him a sandwich. He mostly made himself turkey sandwiches and packed himself baby carrots or a banana or something. It was boring, but he didn't really care.

"Why isn't Tina sitting with us today?" Finn asked blankly as he sat down next to Mike.

Because Tina usually alternated during lunch- she would sit with him and some of the football guys and the Cheerios every other day and when she didn't sit with them, she sat with Mercedes, Rachel and the other kids in glee club.

He glanced across the cafeteria and spotted Tina, who was sitting with Rachel and Mercedes and looking kind of miserable. Artie suddenly appeared from the lunch line, wheeling into the spot in between Rachel and Tina. He saw Artie lean in toward Tina and say something with a big grin on his face. He couldn't see Tina's reaction because her long curtain of black hair was shielding her face. Mike tensed up before turning back to Finn.

"She wanted to have some girl time with Mercedes," Mike invented wildly.

Finn nodded understandingly. "_Girls_," he commented knowingly.

Mike rolled his eyes. As if Finn had any idea.

* * *

"Can I bring you home today?" He asked as they walked out of glee rehearsal together.

Tina smiled weakly and slid her hand into his. "Sure."

"Tina... Have you..."

"I don't know," she said softly.

"Talk to me," he begged, searching her eyes for something. Anything.

Her eyes were kind of droopy and sad and he couldn't stand watching her like that.

"What do you want to hear?" She asked wearily.

"I- I don't know. What you're feeling? What you're thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I _love_ you," Tina insisted. "And that I won't _stop _loving you. But it's like... I can't stop thinking about what he said."

"Like what?"

"Like that he and I used to be really, _really_ close. And that I used to really care about him."

"Used to," Mike pointed out despite himself, then flushed a little.

She chuckled. "I know, Mike. But I feel like we had this connection that I'm just throwing away, which I feel like is kind of unfair."

"You wouldn't be...throwing it away," he said slowly. "You'd just be letting it go." He realized after he said this that the two ideas were pretty much the same thing.

"I know. I get that. But I feel like he's... guilt tripping me or something."

"And do you really want to be with someone that can stand to guilt trip you?"

She looked up at him, her lips tight. "I just wish we could be friends or something."

"You and Artie? Or you and me?"

"Artie and me," she sighed. "I value our friendship too much to just toss it out the window."

Mike reached his hand out to cup her face gently, pulling her closer to him. "Maybe you won't have to."

She laughed bitterly, "He's not making it that simple."

"But... but then why have you been avoiding me?" Mike asked timidly.

Tina looked up at him with sad eyes. "Because there's one other thing that Artie had said that I can't help but feel is true."

"What do you mean?"

"That... that you and I aren't really socially equal. That even if we're both in glee club, you're a football player and I'm...nothing."

"You are _not_ 'nothing' nor will you ever be 'nothing'," he growled.

"It makes things scarier for me, I think," she said quietly. "Because you're like... up there, you know? You go to parties on weekends sometimes and I have no idea what happens at those things but I can't imagine it's like Sunday school or something."

"I'm usually the designated driver," he shrugged. "But _Tina_. I would never _ever_ leave you, okay? It doesn't matter that I play football."

She sighed. "I guess."

He opened his arms a little to signal for a hug and she gave him a little half-smile before swinging her arms around his neck and he hugged her tight and hard, burying his face in her hair. She was intoxicating in every way possible and he wanted her to understand that he would never willingly let her go.

* * *

"You're sitting with me today?" He looked up at her when she approached their lunch table.

"Mhmm," she nodded, sitting down next to him and hooking her foot around his ankle. They had been going out for so long now but when she did that, it still made his heart stop a little.

"Hi Tina," Sam greeted her cheerfully. "We missed you the other day."

Mike watched her carefully as she smiled, "Sorry. I'm back now!"

"So I was thinking," Sam piped up suddenly. "We should get everyone in the school really hype about our game this weekend. Go all-out, you know? We can deck ourselves out in red and give our jerseys to our girlfriends or something. What do you guys think?"

"Easy for you to say," Finn snorted. "You _have_ a girlfriend." Sam and Quinn were still going out, so yeah, Mike supposed that it was easier for Sam to say something like that. Especially since Finn was still all cut up about Rachel.

"Then find a girl to give it to," Sam shrugged. "It'll be a good way to get to know a girl, you know?"

"I guess," Finn said reluctantly.

Mike turned to look at Tina, "What do you say? You feel like wearing my jersey tomorrow?"

He saw her cast a super fleeting glance over at the table across the cafeteria, where Artie and Mercedes were deep in conversation. He clenched his jaw but said nothing.

"Of course," she agreed.

* * *

He led her up to his room later that afternoon after school had ended in order to hand her his jersey. Something about her agreement to wear it almost made him feel a little bit better amidst all of the crazy crap with Artie. Especially since it was almost as if by wearing his jersey, it was her final statement to... well, to McKinley, that she was _his _girlfriend and no one else's. It made him feel over-protective but it didn't matter because lately, his emotions hadn't really been very straightforward, anyway.

"Here you go," he tossed it to her after unearthing it from underneath a bunch of clean clothes in his closet.

"Thanks," Tina caught it and spread it out, holding it out in front of her. "It's huge."

He laughed, "Well, I'm kind of tall."

She returned his smile and hugged the jersey to her chest. "It smells like... like laundry detergent and _you_."

He sat down next to her on his bed and slid his arm around her waist, hugging her close to him. "Good thing or bad thing?"

"_Definitely_ a good thing."

"T... I feel like..." He hesitated, "I feel like we're not gonna be normal again until you settle things with Artie."

"I know," she breathed into his shoulder, her words barely coherent. "I've been trying to figure out what to say to him."

"Tina... you... you do still... like me, right?" There. He said it. And yeah, it sounded like a ridiculously stupid question and all but it had been torturing him all week. Especially since she had been so _distant_ lately and so unwilling to finally end her issues with Artie...

She stared at him as if he had just asked her to tap dance naked in front of him. Which, he thought idly to himself, would be _quite_ the show... one that he would definitely _not_ say no to...

"Did you really just ask me that?"

"I- yeah," Mike furrowed his brow, confused.

She stood up, and at first he was even more confused but then she sat down on his lap, her legs on either side of him and wrapping around his torso. She was close. _Very_ close. And their foreheads were touching slightly and she said softly, "I _love_ you, Mike. Don't go thinking otherwise."

"Are... are you sure?"

She said nothing. Instead, she chose to kiss him in a way that they hadn't kissed for way, _way_ too long and now that they were, he was grateful. Not quite content just yet, because to be honest, the one thing that had been bothering him the most this past week- Artie- was still there. The problem wasn't gone yet. And he didn't know when it was going to go away, but he had a feeling he was going to have to take it upon himself to fix things. Because he needed to have her be _his_ again.

* * *

**A/N: Things were kind of weird this chapter! And I kinda hate making Artie the bad guy, even though he's kind of a good scapegoat. :D**

**At any rate, more drama to ensue... but more resolutions, too. Hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought about this chapter!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: More chapters! Hahaha. :) Anyway, hopefully no one is too bored by this story? :) Let me know!**

**

* * *

**

Tina had spent probably a total of six hours on her final draft for her essay on _Crime and Punishment_ for her English class. She was pretty sure she may have gone permanently blind from staring at her computer screen for so long. She had gulped down at least two homemade coffees, and she was pretty sure she had spilled one of them on her desk but she couldn't really remember anymore because her brain wasn't even functioning properly anymore. She wasn't necessarily a terrible writer or anything, but when she wanted to write a quality essay, it took a hell of a lot of time.

The next morning, however, she felt _good_ about it. Like actually solid, which was rare for her because she was a bit of a perfectionist when it came to schoolwork. Her English teacher would read it, she imagined, and wouldn't be able to find a single fault in her writing and everything would be fine again because her grade would be back to normal. Taking a deep breath, she slid the essay into her binder and swung her backpack over her shoulder, hurrying down the stairs. She couldn't recall ever feeling this determined, she realized as she got into Mike's car, which was parked in front of her house, just like always. Bless him.

"Big day, hm?" Mike smiled, kissing her hair as she climbed in.

She nodded. "I've never been this scared before."

"Don't be," he assured her, "It's amazing."

She had sent him every draft from her first one right after dinner to her final _final_ draft at around three in the morning the night before and he had faithfully stayed up with her, reading each draft that she had e-mailed his way. He had patiently stayed on the phone with her, voicing his opinions and critique about each draft, and once or twice, he had drifted off but that was totally okay because he deserved so much rest after putting up with her. God, _this _is why she adored him.

"I think I've sweated out all the water out of my body," she frowned nervously, wiping her palms on her dress. "This is so disgusting."

He grinned at her, leaning in close to her face. She could feel his breath on her skin as he inched closer and closer, setting his tongue against the side of her cheek and licking up her earlobe and toward her hairline. "I think it's sexy."

She shivered at this but couldn't help but feel like she was actually disgusting him a little. She was _sweating_, for god's sake. How could that be sexy? "No, you don't," she narrowed her eyes resolutely.

He pulled back and stuck out his tongue before starting the car and backing out of her driveway. "Yeah, actually, I do." He fiddled with the steering wheel a little before turning to glance at her briefly. "Besides, you're cute when you're anxious."

Thank god for Mike Chang. Thank god for him still picking her up every morning even though she still hadn't worked up the courage to tell Artie to can it (because he _hadn't_ canned it yet- he had now taken up texting her every once in a while, usually making light conversation but once in a while mentioning their whole...situation, pleading her to make the "right decision"). Thank god for Mike still staying up with her at nights, texting her positive messages and even sometimes Skyping with her way past midnight when she felt like she was ready to fall asleep right there on her desk.

"Oh!" He said suddenly, "Here." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled something small out. "Put out your hand."

Confused, she consented, opening her hand out for him. He placed it into hers an closed her fingers over it. She unfurled her fingers and looked down. And couldn't help but smile because it was a Hershey Kiss. She smiled because that was exactly the type of corny thing he would do because even though _he_ knew that she knew it was corny, he also knew that it would make her smile. Plus, it helped that she could eat chocolate her whole life and not get tired of it. She glanced at him and he was giving her this eager, anticipating look that made her want to laugh her head off.

"Thanks," she said softly, unwrapping the foil and popping the chocolate into her mouth. It melted slowly, sticking to her tongue and the roof of her mouth, and she closed her eyes to savor the taste.

"You'll be okay, T," she heard his voice say gently.

She loved it when he called her that. It made her feel more at peace. Like everything _was_ going to be okay.

* * *

After she had handed in her essay, she spent the remainder of her English class thinking probably way too intensely about what she wanted to say to Artie. The truth was, Artie was important to her, no matter what he had done or said in the past. And sure, he had his flaws, but they had so much history and she wasn't willing to let go. He had, at one point, texted her at night, asking her if she was willing to take a bit of a leap of faith by choosing him. _Choosing him_. She didn't want to _choose_ him. She wanted to be friends with him and she wanted to _be_ with Mike. Why couldn't he understand that?

And in some ways, Artie had been right. Even before Mr. Schue had started the glee club, they had eaten lunch together in the cafeteria. They had talked, they had gone to movies together, they had been _close_. And to be perfectly fair, it was kind of cold of her to cut things off with him so quickly, but she had been _hurt_. And Tina had _huge_ issues with being hurt. And sure, she had her fair share of moments when she went all feminism on people, but the truth was, it was just her trying to protect her heart and mind because it seemed like people were always taking shots at it.

She remembered back during their sophomore year when they had had their first kiss. It had been good. Well, better than good. It was timid at first, but it morphed into something much more certain. And she was banking on the fact that the way her kisses with Artie differed with her kisses with Mike meant something. It meant that yeah, when she and Artie kissed, she could feel something there. Something fluttering in her stomach. But with Mike... She wasn't even sure if she could properly explain it. With Mike, it was fire and heat and all sorts of things that made her not be able to see straight. With Mike, she sometimes had no idea what was going on because when their lips met, her brain just completely blacked out. Those were the two things. Passion and respect. They defined Mike, and that, she decided, would define her decision.

* * *

She kind of had a feeling that Artie was going to approach her soon. So it didn't really surprise her all that much when she heard him call out her name before glee rehearsal.

"Tina! Hey!"

She took a deep breath. "What's up, Artie?"

"You know what's up," he shrugged. It was kind of weird in some ways because Artie had grown up in certain ways. He had dropped some of the swag that he used to be convinced that he had (although he was still quite the rapper). He talked... he talked more like a normal human being now.

"Artie, if you can't accept us being friends without a relationship, then I don't know what to tell you anymore," Tina said quickly and resolutely, staring him down and trying her hardest not to cry.

He was quiet for a second before biting his lip and saying, "Tina, do you remember when you found all those research papers online about my condition?"

"Yeah," she said slowly. Of course she remembered. She had spent hours at the library, Google searching everything humanly possible about Artie's condition in hopes of finding something that would give him the hope to continue his dream of becoming a dancer despite his disability. She remembered how desperate she had felt, how much she had wanted to make him remember his dream.

"That's when I realized," he replied earnestly, "that you were so _so_ special. And that I would be an idiot to let you go."

"So why didn't you think of that during the summer?" Tina snapped. "When you were too busy to be with me?"

"Because I was stupid," Artie reasoned. "I'm over that."

"You're over playing video games?"

"Well, no. I still play video games." _Of course, _she rolled her eyes. "But I know how to prioritize now."

She was tempted to believe this, because yeah, he probably grew up a bit in the past two years. And yeah, she believed that he was a bit of an idiot before and he could have gotten a lot better. "Look, Artie. I get that we're in high school and we're kind of stupid in high school and that we _get better_. But I also get that I'm so _so_ happy with Mike and I don't plan on changing that."

"You could be happier with me."

"Or I couldn't," she pointed out. "Who's to say who I'd be happiest with in this world? I could be happiest with some guy in California that I don't even know yet, for god's sake. But right now, Mike makes me happier than I could even imagine before him, and I'm not going to give that up. So I'm asking you now: Can we be friends?"

He stared at her without a word.

"Please, Artie. I still care about you a lot. And I still like being around you. But I want to be with Mike and if you can't respect that, I can't respect _you_."

"I don't know if I'm ready for that," he said in a strained tone. "I think about you all the time. _All _the time."

"That doesn't change my answer," Tina said softly.

He rolled away without another word.

* * *

"I did it." She was kind of nervous about saying it, because she didn't know if Mike would think of it as good news or not. Because to be honest, she had put this off for a very long time, which was silly since she had known from the beginning that she had loved _Mike_. Her attempt to salvage her friendship with Artie, however, proved otherwise.

Mike was lying on his side on her bed, reading a book while idly stroking her hair from where she sat. He murmured absent-mindedly, "You did what, T?"

"I told Artie to shut it because I'm tired of getting texts from him asking if we can get back together."

He sat up very, very abruptly and stared at her. "You... you did?"

"I did," she smiled weakly.

"TINAAA, I LOVE YOUUU!" He dropped his book and tackled her down onto her bed and began planting kisses all over her face, her neck, _everywhere_.

She laughed uncontrollably because he was so dorky and adorable at the same time and the gleeful expression on his face was just totally _priceless_. "I love you, too, Mike."

As he embraced her tightly and she felt his hard yet warm body press against her own, she breathed in his familiar scent. She breathed in every bit of him because now she knew. She knew she made the right decision, because Mike Chang was someone she could never, _ever_ give up.

* * *

**A/N: Yayyy! How did you guys like this chapter? Let me know! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Okayy so now that the Artie drama is over- hopefully ;) - this new chapter has some Blame It On the Alcohol goodness. Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**One of the absolute best parts about the whole situation with Artie was not just that it was over- it was that _because_ it was over, it had given their relationship a renewed zest that Mike absolutely _loved_. She would tackle him in between classes and they would totally break a couple of no-PDA rules at McKinley but it didn't matter at _all_ to him because it was _so good_. And he had gotten a dirty look from a teacher at one point and Puck had kind of made some obscene thrusting motions as he walked by them the other day, but he _didn't care_.

"We gotta get to class," she murmured one day as he dipped down to nibble her ear.

"You're so hot."

"_Miiiike_."

And so yeah, he was acting kind of like a horny teenage guy but from the moment Tina had told him that things were over, like _really over_, with Artie, he hadn't been able to get enough of her. And if that meant a couple of eye rolls from people in the hallway, then so be it.

They were walking to glee rehearsal the other day when Rachel bounded in between them, breaking them apart a little. "Why hello there, lovebirds. I would like to formally invite you to a party at my house tonight."

"A party? At _your_ house?" Mike blinked, thoroughly confused. He had gone to his fair share of parties during his whole high school career, and they were usually at Puck's place or some other random Cheerio or jock's place. But _Rachel Berry_ was throwing one now? How good could that party even _be_?

"No need to sound so surprised," she sniffed disdainfully. "But my dads will be out of town this weekend so you are both welcome to come at eight p.m. tonight!"

"Will there... will there be alcohol?" Tina frowned. Mike tried not to laugh, because he was pretty sure Tina had never been to a legitimate party before and when it's high school, there's _always_ alcohol. Even if Rachel was throwing it.

"I will be providing wine coolers for all!" Rachel beamed. "Hope to see you two there!"

And with that, she hurried forward and left Mike and Tina to exchange very, very amused glances.

* * *

"Are we even gonna go?" Tina asked dubiously as they sat in his car after rehearsal.

"I don't know," Mike shrugged. "I was kinda hoping we could go out tonight, actually. It's Friday and we haven't gone out for like a month."

"Maybe the party will burn out and we can go out for dinner anyway," Tina suggested with a smile. "I kinda miss our dates."

"Me, too," he smiled. "I'll make reservations for us, then."

"Sounds good," she agreed. "You think this party will be any good?"

"I don't know," he replied thoughtfully. "I can't imagine it would be, but if she's got alcohol, people are gonna get buzzed in no time."

"I guess. Although it's not like I have a frame of reference, anyway," he saw her cheeks color a little and he couldn't help but feel like she was being completely adorable.

"Don't worry about it," he said breezily. "Besides, I don't really have one either. I've been to parties before, but I don't drink all that often so I barely have an idea of what it feels like to be completely wasted at a party."

She smiled, "That makes me feel a little bit better."

"That's what I'm here for," he returned the smile and kissed her swiftly.

* * *

Rachel's house was... well, it was big, Mike had to give her that much. It was also a little eerie, what with the gigantic portrait of Rachel hanging from the wall and a _stage_ in the basement. And what on _earth_ was she wearing? It was like his grandmother's night gown. And he was no Kurt or anything, but he was fairly certain that that _thing_ she was wearing was the biggest fashion violation in history.

"Okay, let's go over the rules..." Rachel announced. And that was his first clue that this party was bound to be a bust. No party had _rules_.

But when Rachel handed both him and Tina two _drink tickets_, for god's sake, he couldn't help but feel his heart plummet. There was no way in hell this party would lift off if they were _designated_ two wine coolers...

"BRITTANY! Remember the rules! No sitting on _anything_."

Mike glanced at Tina and they shared a frustrated look, one that showed their mutual agreement that it was _definitely_ time to go. However, Artie wheeled up to her before they had a chance to say anything.

"Great...party, Rachel," Artie gave her an encouraging smile. "But we gotta go."

Tina blinked and stammered, "Y-yeah. We have...dinner reservations." Which was actually true, Mike couldn't help but laugh a little to himself. Although it did sound like a bit of a sorry excuse to get out of this place. But boy did he want to get out of there. Everyone was sitting around, looking extremely dismal and it was kind of killing his mood, to be honest.

But Puck saved them. After he had convinced Rachel to let him break into the liquor cabinet in Rachel's house, everything finally got jump-started and from then on, everyone cut loose. Mike's memory began to spiral downward from there. He remembered loud, pounding music. He remembered downing his two wine coolers in no time at all and watching Tina do the same. He remembered dancing on the couches with Tina. He remembered lugging a pillow around with him _everywhere_, holding it to his chest at most points in the night, kind of pretending it was Tina. And he remembered pulling a tequila bottle from Puck's hands, then proceeding to dash up the stairs to look for limes and salt. He remembered coaxing Tina to try her first shot, squeezing a lime into her mouth and watching the juice drip tantalizingly into her mouth and then placing salt on his hand for her to lick up. He remembered her seductive glance as she slowly ran her tongue across his hand and then proceeded to down a shot quite impressively.

"You're so sexy," he breathed into her ear after taking his own shot. By this point, things were starting to get kind of hazy and they were pressed up against each other so closely that he vaguely felt the burning desire to rip her clothes off of her body.

"C'mon, let's _party!_" Mercedes shrieked as she brought over a couple of glasses and a handful of quarters.

"Whaddoo we do?" Tina asked, leaning onto Mike in a daze.

"Watch and learn," he grinned and picked up a quarter, bouncing it into a cup and then shouting out, "WHOOO! LET'S GO!" He couldn't really remember why, but he felt some crazy sense of achievement as he saw the quarter land in the cup... or at least, it had _looked_ like it had landed in the cup. He picked up the tequila bottle and took a long swig while the rest of the girls at the table cracked up and sucked the lime juice into their mouths before taking their own shots.

As Quinn and Mercedes drifted away from the table, he dropped his shot glass and stared at Tina, who was humming to herself. He licked his lower lip and pulled Tina into his arms. He could smell her tequila breath and _god_ it was more intoxicating than the tequila that he had just poured into his mouth. "I love youuu," he slurred.

She didn't say anything in response. Instead, she tackled him to the ground and pressed her mouth onto his, and all he could remember after that was being trapped in their own little world while everyone else screamed in the background but he couldn't hear a word they were screaming because Tina. Tina tasted _so_ good and he knew the alcohol was getting to his brain but she was delicious and he wanted her right then and there.

"Lessplay spin the bottle!" He heard Rachel call out to the entire room and everyone cheered.

"I don't wannaa," Tina whined into his mouth, "I only want to kiss youuu..."

"I'll pass when it's my turn," Mike mumbled against her lips. "C'mon." He lifted her off the ground as they sat in the circle with everyone else. He took a seat on the couch next to Tina.

"Heyyyy Chang," Puck grinned stupidly as he swung his arm around Mike. "Saw you and your girl getting it on over there. Party sex?"

Tina laughed hysterically, and Mike was sure that if he had been sober, he would have been kind of offended but he couldn't remember caring at that point. "Sure, Puckerman," he mumbled. "Whatever you say."

Puck retracted his arm and from then on, Mike wasn't really sure what had happened after that. He remembered Rachel kissing the Warbler from Dalton- couldn't really remember his name at that point- and he remembered the two of them bounding onstage to sing a duet. He remembered pulling Tina up and whispering in her ear, "May I have this dance?"

"Of course you may, Mike Chang," she giggled, taking his hands into hers. "I love youuuu."

He remembered dancing off-rhythm with the music, flailing around aimlessly with her as they ambled around the room. He remembered abandoning their attempts to dance completely and staring at her and immediately wanting to kiss her. Their lips met again and _god_ she tasted even better now. She was running her hands through his hair and her arms raked across his torso in a way that matched his desire perfectly. And he knew he was drunk past the point of no return but that didn't stop him from wanting to kiss her senseless, to fall onto the couch with her and kiss her body everywhere and lick her to feel her shiver beneath him. And he knew that they hadn't ever had sex before and losing their virginity at a drunken party would have been stupid and incredibly unromantic but he wanted her so, so badly...

Apparently the song had ended at one point, but by then, Mike simply had very few recollections of what had gone down after that. He remembered crashing on the floor with Tina curled up in his arms as the music from the stereo continued to pound in his ears. He remembered Kurt and Blaine leaving and everyone waving to them amidst their drunken stupor. He remembered feeling her breathing against his chest and then completely wiping out as well because all of a sudden, his drunken buzz had disappeared and he just felt _tired_ out of his mind.

* * *

"Mike. _Mike_, wake up."

"Five more minutes."

"_No_. Now, Mike, open your eyes."

Mike felt like his eyelids weighed a hundred pounds apiece as he slowly lifted them up and found Tina, her hair a mess and her dress unzipped at the back. _Whoa_. Did he unzip that?

"It's morning," he commented stupidly as he was blinded by the light that was flooding in through the small windows near the ceiling.

"_Yes_ and I just realized- do you have a cover story for your parents as to why you're not home?"

"I always do," he mumbled, shielding his eyes with his arm. "I just say I'm at Finn's. My parents never talk to his parents."

"Oh, thank god. I was worried about you."

"Why, do you have one?" Mike asked as he glanced around the room. Everyone was still out cold.

"Yeah, I told my parents I was gonna spend the night at Mercedes' place last night. Guess great minds think alike. God, my head _kills_."

It wasn't until she had said this that Mike realized how much _everything_ hurt. His head, his shoulders, his neck, his arms. They each felt like heavy lead weights and his head was throbbing non-stop. "Mine, too," he grumbled, closing his eyes again. He reached out his hands for her, "Come back to sleep with meeee."

He could hear her laugh and the sound kind of made his head explode because even the sound of reverberating laughter made him feel like his brain was ready to split in half.

"Do you have any idea why my dress is unzipped?"

His eyes flew open again, and he winced at the pain. "Did I do it? I don't even remember."

"Well, from the state of your pants, I would say the feeling was kind of mutual last night."

Alarmed, he glanced down at his legs... and yup, his pants were completely down, bunched up at the ankles and _yup_, they could both see his plaid boxers. "I- did we- "

"No," she said firmly. "We definitely didn't. But I don't know if I can say the same about anything _else_ we may have done last night."

He did _kind of_ remember lots and lots of making out. And lots of tongue... like, everywhere. And he could kind of remember diving his hands into her dress. And her returning the favor by reaching into his pants. But... but nothing further. _Right_?

"I don't think it was... anything serious," he muttered, rubbing his eyes and suddenly seeing stars.

"I don't eith-"

"_Would you two shut up? We're trying to sleep_," Santana's loud, aggravated voice interrupted them and he and Tina shared an amused look before she crashed in his arms again and they surrendered to sleep again.

* * *

Mike was having a difficult time driving to school with his sunglasses on. He had hastily threw them on when he had gotten home and his parents had stared at him as if he was crazy but he blew it off as a new trend at school. Thank god for oblivious asian parents. He arrived at Tina's house and he saw her amble out, completely disoriented, a pair of sunglasses on her head as well. She got into his car but stared at the open door.

"I'm afraid of closing that."

"It's gonna be so loud," Mike moaned, covering his ears as she carefully closed the door. But it still sounded as if his car was exploding.

"This day is gonna _suck_," Tina mumbled.

"You got that right."

* * *

"How about we reach a general agreement that Rachel Berry isn't allowed to touch you anymore?"

Mike laughed, even though it kind of hurt his temples to do so. "She was drunk."

"So? So was I and I still wanted to drop kick her off the stage."

"You have nothing to worry about, T," he clumsily kissed her on the forehead and she relaxed in his arms.

He felt his head bobble back and forth like a dead weight and he narrowed his eyes because Artie was so causing him pain again. Just this time it was with Bloody Marys instead of with Tina.

Screw Artie.

* * *

**A/N: Okay so that's my cut on the Blame It episode! :) Hope you guys enjoyed. What did you think of it?**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Another chapter for ya! Hope you all enjoy.**

**

* * *

**Sectionals for this year were rapidly approaching, and Tina could feel herself begin to panic. Mr. Schuester, in his usual attempts to make things fair, decided to "switch things up" again for this year's sectionals, and so Tina was supposed to sing a solo, Puck and Santana were doing a duet, and they were all doing a group dance number. Rachel had fumed for an entire week, but Tina had worse things to worry about. Sure, she had threw a tantrum for a solo earlier in the year, so she was supposed to be happy at this point, but sectionals was almost the last thing on her mind, what with her English essay due back graded later that day. She could have sworn she had seen Mrs. Gallagher cast her a menacing glance after class the other day, and that did _not_ bode well for her English grade.

"Hey you."

She looked up from Mr. Schuester's sheet music collection, which she was thumbing through in order to find a song to sing for sectionals. Mike was standing in the doorway, looking extremely dorky but somehow still cute in his black-rimmed glasses. He had gotten them prescribed about two weeks ago, and he had to wear them during class when he couldn't see the board. He hated them, but she thought they were kind of irresistible.

"Hey," she smiled as he wove his arms around her waist. "I envy you, by the way."

"Why? Apart from my undeniable good looks, of course," he joked, kissing her hair.

"Haha," she laughed sarcastically. "Because you don't have to worry about a solo! I don't have the patience for this now."

"You did kind of beg him for one a couple weeks back," he reminded her.

Damn his memory. "I know," she sighed. "And ordinarily, I'd be thrilled, but right now, all I can think about is my English essay."

"Don't you get it back today?" Actually, sometimes, his memory was rather flattering.

"Yeah," Tina frowned, turning around to look at him. "And I don't think I should be expecting a good grade or anything."

"Don't be ridiculous," Mike took her hands, running his thumb gently along her hand. "If she doesn't give you a good grade on that essay, she should be fired."

Tina laughed. "I don't think it works like that, Mike. But thanks, anyway."

"Have you picked a song yet?" He motioned toward the sheet music.

"Actually, yeah." She picked up the set of sheet music that was lying on top of the rest and handed it to him.

He scanned the music, nodding slowly. "I can see you rocking this song."

She elbowed him in his torso, sticking out her tongue. "We'll see. This kind of song is really more down Mercedes' alley, but I'll do my best."

"I've heard you sing this song before," he commented. "I know you sound incredible."

She gave him a small, weary smile while the warning bell sounded, signaling two minutes before their next class. "English awaits," she sighed dramatically, shoving the sheet music back into its box and scooping up the one she had chosen into her arms.

"I believe in you," he kissed her cheek as they walked out of the choir room and into the hallway. "And I also believe that I'll kick Mrs. Gallagher's ass if she doesn't give you the grade you deserve. Even though guys aren't supposed to hit girls."

"That's sexist," she replied as breezily as possible as she parted ways with Mike, walking as quickly as possible toward her English class, her hands already beginning to sweat.

He winked at her, "My bad. But I'm taking you out for frozen yogurt after you get your A today, okay?"

Sometimes, she didn't know what she'd do without him.

* * *

Somehow, before Mrs. Gallagher had even tossed her essay onto her desk, something inside her was already groaning. As if her instincts already _knew_ that she was bound to fail this assignment. When Mrs. Gallagher turned on her heel to face her, clutching Tina's essay in her hands, she gave Tina a very significant look and placed it carelessly on her desk.

Afraid to look at the red ink that was bound to be all over her essay, Tina bent her neck down slowly. And there it was. Mrs. Gallagher's red felt tip pen had scorched a mark at the top of her essay and at first, Tina could barely even breathe, but...

Seventy-eight percent. _Seventy-eight_. Mrs. Gallagher had deemed that the essay that Tina had spent sleepless hours on was worth only seventy eight out of one hundred. Tina's eyes shot forward to where Mrs. Gallagher was standing in her beige pantsuit, blond hair pinned back primly with a silver hair clip. Tina felt the sudden urge to rip out the clip and impale her with it, but she resisted, sitting through the rest of the class period gripping her essay in fury. She thumbed through the pages, narrowing her eyes at each red comment that Mrs. Gallagher had left on her paper.

After class, she stalked up to Mrs. Gallagher's desk, where she was sipping her coffee with a very complacent expression on her face.

"Mrs. Gallagher," Tina started.

"May I help you?" It was clear that she was surveying Tina's midnight blue dress, dark gloves, and skull earrings with disgust. As if she had expected her to keep up with the nonsensical clothing that Tina had tried to wear before, but couldn't because she was just too damn uncomfortable in it. Tina wanted to scream.

"I want to know why I received a C on my essay."

"C plus," Mrs. Gallagher replied absently.

_As if that even mattered_.

"Besides," Mrs. Gallagher said airily, "all my comments are on your essay, Miss Cohen-Chang. I suggest you read them."

"I _have_," Tina snapped. "'_Invalid argument, incomplete ideas, nothing more than an opinion.' _Mrs. Gallagher, everything you wrote was subjective and what I think was completely unfair."

"Hardly," she shrugged. "I agree that it was subjective, but seeing as how I _am_ a certified English teacher, I would say that my assertions were relatively sound."

There was a knock on the door and both Tina and her teacher's eyes shot up to find Mike walking in slowly.

"I'm sorry, may I help you?" Mrs. Gallagher said sweetly- more sweetly than Tina had ever heard her- to Mike as he walked in. Damn Mike's charming good looks and socially acceptable clothes. "I don't believe you're one of my students."

"I'm here for Tina, actually," Mike said steadily, approaching Mrs. Gallagher's desk.

Mrs. Gallagher arched an eyebrow. "Oh? Well, our conversation was over, anyway, so-"

"Our conversation was _not_ over," Tina interjected.

"Don't interrupt me, Miss Cohen-Chang," she said dangerously.

"Sorry," Tina tried very hard not to roll her eyes. "But Mrs. Gallagher, I really don't think I deserved a seventy-eight percent on this paper. I spent-"

"She got a _seventy-eight _percent on her essay?" Mike spluttered, interrupting her.

Tina glanced over at Mike's face, which was rapidly turning red, which, as she knew well, meant that he was getting enraged- and fast.

"Well, yes," Mrs. Gallagher shifted in her seat a little. "But that's really none of your business, in fact-"

"Of course it's my business," he retorted. "I _read_ that essay, Mrs. Gallagher. And with all due respect, I felt that it deserved an A."

"Yes, well," she pursed her lips. "You are not Miss Cohen-Chang's English teacher."

"So? I can still read an essay and tell if it's incredible- which this was. In fact, I've already talked to _my _English teacher- Mrs. Wright, and she's agreed to read Tina's essay in order to evaluate a second opinion."

"Why would you ask Mrs. Wright to read _my_ student's essay?" Mrs. Gallagher snapped.

"Because Tina and I already felt like you were being unfair to her," Mike glared, and Tina could practically feel the heat coming out of his eyes. "And so I figured I'd ask, just in case something like this would happen."

Tina stared. She had known for quite some time that Mike was a nice guy. In fact, the entire glee club could have probably come to the general consensus that Mike was probably the nicest guy in the club. And ever since they started going out, she also discovered that he had a big, wonderful heart. He had proven that to her on multiple accounts, and for that, she was grateful. But _this_. This must have reached some new, uncharted level, because Tina felt, as she watched her boyfriend stare down her English teacher, her insides _exploding_ with gratitude and warmth and incredulity for Mike.

Mrs. Gallagher was starting to look uncomfortable, "Okay, fine. Miss Cohen-Chang, if you revise your essay appropriately and turn it in tomorrow, I will read it again and reevaluate your grade."

Tina felt like her lungs were letting air out at an alarming speed. "Thank you, Mrs. Gallagher." She shouldered her backpack and made a motion to leave when Mike discreetly slipped his hand into hers while they walked toward the door.

"Quite a boyfriend you've got there, Miss Cohen-Chang," Mrs. Gallagher called out casually after them as they left the room.

Tina slammed the door shut behind them and looked up at Mike, who was giving her the biggest, goofiest smile she had ever seen in her life.

"Don't I know it," she beamed, swinging her arms around his neck as he picked her up and kissed her hard.

* * *

"I'm not ready," Tina was hyperventilating, she was sure of it. She continuously wiped her sweaty hands on her silver dress, trying and failing to keep her skin dry.

"Of course you are," Mike grabbed her wrists, stilling her restless hands. "You've practiced for hours. I've _heard_ you. You sound incredible."

"I'm not ready," she murmured again, ignoring him.

"Come here." He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. Somewhere distant, she heard the stage manager call for their places. "You're gonna rock this auditorium tonight, you hear me? Besides," he whispered in her ear, "you look _hot_ in that dress."

She growled menacingly at his words but hid a smile as she took her place in front of the group, ready to sing as soon as the curtain rose.

* * *

* * *

"_Tina_!" Mercedes was shrieking. Like actually shrieking and Tina was kind of wondering if the entire city could hear her. "Girl, I know Whitney Houston's kind of my thing, but you _owned_ that song so hard I feel like I should never sing another Whitney song ever _again_."

"_No!_" Tina cried, horrified. "I love it when you sing Whitney songs." But she was grateful as Mercedes hugged her tight. As Mercedes broke away, giving Tina one last huge grin before sprinting off to congratulate Puck and Santana, Mike walked slowly over to her.

"Hi," she breathed as he touched his forehead to hers. "So, what did you think?"

"Eh. You were all right," he winked, shifting to kiss her cheek.

"_Mike_!" She was offended at first but then the possibility of him actually meaning his words struck her. "Wait, really?"

"_No_, you goof, you were fantastic!" Mike picked her up and swung her in a half-circle. "You're like my little star, ready for Broadway."

She was momentarily blown away by his incredibly flattering choice of words. And it kind of helped her mood a little when they had won. For the third year in a row.

* * *

Tina was waiting patiently outside the restrooms while Mike made a quick pit stop before they boarded the bus again when Artie wheeled himself to her side.

"Good job today," he congratulated her with a smile.

"Thanks, Artie," she pressed her lips together, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"I- I just wanted to say that I think I can handle us being friends. For real this time."

She blinked rapidly, trying to process his words. "_Really_?" Because despite all their nonsensical drama, she really _missed_ hanging out with Artie. Despite all the ridiculous stuff that went down these past couple of months, Artie was still her friend at one point, and it was kind of hard not to be around him for so long.

"Really," he grinned. "Maybe we can watch a movie with Mercedes and Rachel tomorrow or something."

She beamed. "I'd love that."

And it was as if everything in her life was quickly starting to fix itself, and nothing made her happier.

* * *

**A/N: Okayy so there goes another chapter! What did you guys think? **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi guys! More chapters? Okay! :D**

**

* * *

**Mike approached this whole college situation with prudence. Mostly because the common application website kind of scared him to death, but also because he and Tina hadn't properly talked about it since Figgins announced over the P.A. that it was time to start applying to colleges. He and Tina had exchanged panicked glances, but that was as far as their mutual journey toward college had gone.

College was never really a huge point of interest for Mike. He kind of wanted to study something practical like business, but only for the sole purpose of being pragmatic about his future. His parents wanted him to apply to schools out East and maybe in California- anything to get him out of Ohio. Not because they didn't love him, they had assured him, but because he needed the chance to seek out the rest of the world. He vaguely understood that Tina was interested in going to school in New York in order to find her way toward Broadway. And that only made him want to apply to schools out East even more. But he would never tell his parents that, for fear that they beat him silly for wanting to follow his girlfriend out to college. But he _did_. He didn't want to end things with Tina because he _loved_ the way they were now. And to be honest, he was too afraid to bring up the subject because it seemed as though she was trying her absolute hardest not think about it. Sometimes they'd be chatting online late at night and he'd ask her what she was doing and she'd reply with "" and he would know that she was in an irritated mood because of it. Not because she wasn't looking forward to college, he assumed, but because college as a whole was just a touchy subject.

Because Mike knew that Tina was _smart_. And not just study to score an A smart. She was actually an insanely intelligent woman who could, in his eyes, do _anything_ because her mind was _sharp_. And he knew that if she didn't have a set of pipes like she did, she could study anything she wanted in college and do _well_ because she was just unreasonably talented that way. But the fact was, she _was_ blessed with an unmatched voice and if her dream was Broadway, he had no doubt that she could manage it. Which was why he knew that his best choice was to scope out schools in New York, and fast. It made him feel kind of whipped to want to go wherever Tina went, but he understood that Broadway wasn't really a movable option. Besides, her dream was carved in her mind and his was malleable. He could manage being practical just about anywhere.

They were playing air hockey in his basement the other day when he decided to finally ask her about all of this because he could barely hold it in anymore.

"T, have you picked your colleges yet?"

Her lips were pressed together kind of tightly as she maneuvered the puck expertly toward his side. "Yup."

"What... what are they?"

"I'm not gonna tell you," she replied absently, swinging hard at the puck and grinning with satisfaction as it landed in Mike's goal, mostly because Mike had stood up perfectly straight at her words, his eyes wide and focused on her as she scored. "GOAL!" She cheered.

"You're not going to _tell _me?" He asked incredulously, ignoring the fact that they were now tied.

"Nope," she said breezily, retrieving the puck and placing it back in the middle of the table.

"Am I allowed to ask why not?"

"Sure," Tina shrugged.

He rolled his eyes at her literal interpretation of his question. "Then _why not_?"

"Because," she retorted, "I'm not going to let my college decisions influence _yours_. I'm not going to drag any of your goals and ambitions down because I _know_ that's what you'll do, Mike." She fiddled aimlessly with the puck. "You don't think I know? You're going to pull a nice guy move again and give up UCLA or Duke or something because I want to be in New York."

"What if I don't do that?" Mike folded his arms, even though she had _so_ called him out on it because she knew him all too well to do otherwise.

"You will," she shrugged. "Unless you decide that you don't love me anymore, in which case you'll probably let me down easily because that's the _nice guy_ thing to do."

"Is that all I am to you?" Mike frowned. "A nice guy?"

Her shoulders drooped a little as she shut off the air hockey table and walked around it to reach his side. "_No_, Mike. You're much more than that. You're _mine_, first of all," she growled into his ear and he inhaled sharply as he felt her warm breath tickling him. "But you're also an incredible, incredible guy and I _know_ that."

"Then how come you won't tell me where you're applying?" He mumbled, leaning against the wall as she pressed up against him.

"Because," she said softly, "I also know that you're not afraid to do what other guys won't. Commit."

"I'm not," he said steadily. "I'm not afraid to commit because I love you, T."

"But that's exactly the problem-"

"That's a problem?"

"_No_, it's not. I meant... I meant what if you end up falling in love with someone else, Mike?" Tina sighed, running her soft fingers along his cheek. "How much will you regret giving up a school like UCLA for some crappy school in New York just to be with me?"

"I'm not gonna fall in love with anyone else," Mike said immediately, kissing her fingertips as they left his face.

"You say that now," she murmured. "But who knows? With all the beautiful, talented, incredible girls out there, who knows? It's too early in our lives to make rash decisions."

"This isn't a rash decision," he insisted. "Believe me, I've spent many hours thinking this through. Besides, there are plenty of good schools out in New York."

"But don't your parents want you to go out to California?"

"Not necessarily. They just want me to ditch Ohio."

She smiled very slightly, her cheeks pink and he couldn't help but reach over and place the back of his hand against them, feeling how warm she was. "Just listen to me, Mike. You have to approach this college application process ordeal as if we weren't even dating. Apply to the colleges you _want_ to attend, not the ones you know _I'm _applying to."

Mike didn't know what to say, but she looked so wistful that he decided it'd be better not to say anything at all. He dipped down and kissed her.

* * *

As it turned out, wasn't as confusing as he had originally expected. It had prompted him to add the colleges he wanted to apply to. Staring at his computer screen, he tapped his fingers restlessly against his desk. On a bright yellow post-it note that was pressed firmly against the desk was a list of all the schools he had accumulated so far for his application list. There were four of them so far. He lifted his fingers to the keyboard to begin to type UCLA into the add box, but stopped abruptly in mid-air.

Tina was being practical the other day. Too practical- almost kind of like his parents, in a way. He could respect her opinions, but at the same time...

He opened up a new tab and rapidly typed into his Google search bar.

_New York Colleges_

Among the search results were NYU, the SUNY schools, Columbia, Syracuse, and many other schools he had never even heard of. He opened up yet another tab and typed in New York University. Actually, he mused as he scrolled down the page, reading up about the school, NYU had an incredible business program that he could really see himself trying out. _That_ wasn't the same thing as choosing a school because of Tina, right? He changed back to his common application tab and, completely forgetting about UCLA, typed in NYU in the add box.

Maybe the college application process wouldn't be so bad, after all...

* * *

Mike was rather alarmed when he had strolled out of his English class to find Tina and Artie walking together- actually, Tina wheeling Artie... and Artie sitting in his wheelchair, as always- down the hallway toward her locker. _What_? Weren't they... weren't they fighting or something? Didn't she tell him that her and Artie's problems were _over_?

Deciding whether or not to approach them, he surveyed them for a little while longer, drinking in the situation.

Artie was saying something to her over his shoulder and she was smiling. _Smiling_. As if the guy she was pushing around _hadn't_ caused her weeks' worth of frustration and pain. Sure, they were friends at one point, but... did they have to remain friends? Mike knew his irrational mentality was taking over- and fast. He bit down on his lip, leaning against the wall next to his English classroom, staying a respectable distance away from his girlfriend and the one guy he really couldn't stand to see at the moment. And honestly, he had thought that he and Artie would have been cool and everything, but ever since he had approached Tina with the idea of breaking it off with Mike to be with him, Mike hadn't been so tolerant.

The fact was, Artie was a cool guy. At least, that's what he had established his sophomore year when Mike had first joined the glee club. The kid could rap, and he still managed to dance with the rest of the club when he was _wheelchair-bound_, for god's sake. But as Mike's feelings for Tina grew exponentially that year, he found himself liking Artie less and less- and for silly reasons, too. He would come up with any excuse to hate him because, well, he had caused Tina trouble and that was the last thing on earth that Mike would have wanted to see.

Tina was laughing now. She swatted Artie's shoulder playfully, saying something that Mike couldn't really make out but at this point, he decided that taking action would be the best idea. He quickly strode over to where they were standing.

"Hey T," he greeted her. "Artie."

"'Sup Mike," Artie gave him a head nod and Mike found himself narrowing his eyes at Artie's usual street talk.

"Hi!" Tina beamed when he reached her side. She jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a chaste kiss on his lips. "How was English?"

"Boring," he shrugged, his arms snaking around her waist before she pulled away. He rested his hand on her hip as she broke free.

"I know, right? Doesn't it feel like senior year is taking _forever_?" Tina sighed. Her voice was upbeat and carefree and Mike even considered for a moment that maybe her lasting friendship with Artie was...making her happier.

Nah.

"Know what you mean, girl," Artie waved one gloved hand, nodding knowingly. "I swear my physics teacher's lectures are getting longer and longer each day."

Tina laughed appreciatively and Mike offered a tight laugh as well, smiling a very forced smile. He saw Tina glance at him for a millisecond with a scrutinizing expression on her face but he turned back to Tina.

"Anyway- T, I was hoping you would eat lunch with me today," Mike said imploringly.

"Sure," she blinked. "You mean with Finn and Puck and them?"

"No, just me." Mike gave her a small smile. "We could eat out in the courtyard."

"It's like forty degrees outside," she laughed.

He glanced at Artie, who was watching their conversation with interest. "Right. Um, I guess we can just find a table inside the cafeteria then."

"Okay," she agreed. "See you around, Artie," she waved cheerfully to Artie as Mike took her hand and dragged her to the cafeteria. "What was that all about?"

"What?" Mike feigned innocence, arching an eyebrow.

"You're jealous," she declared after a moment of analyzing his expression.

"What? No!"

"You _are_," Tina mused. "God, never would I have ever imagined that Mike Chang, the football player, would have been jealous of me." Either she was really enjoying that fact or she was currently finding something _else_ amusing, Mike concluded, unsure of whether to feel relieved or exasperated. Probably the latter, since he kind of felt like he wanted to yank his hair out if its roots. She was just treating the situation so lightly, especially when he felt like he was ready to scream.

"I thought you guys... I didn't know you guys were... you know, friends again," Mike mumbled as they slowed down before entering the cafeteria.

She sighed, "He finally agreed to it. But Mike, you know you have nothing to worry about, right? Artie and I are just friends."

"I guess," he couldn't help but growl a little. "I just...I don't really like seeing you guys together."

She stopped them, taking his hand in hers and standing on her tippy-toes, kissing his nose gently. "I promise you- you have no reason to be jealous, okay? If Artie even _suggests_ anything more than a platonic friendship, I'm not even gonna _talk_ to him."

"Okay."

Tina gave him a coy smile. "It kinda feels good, you know."

"What?" He glared.

"Being worth enough for you to get jealous."

And the thing is, he didn't think she even realizes the magnitude of his jealousy and what it means. Because it means that he could potentially spend hours upon hours crying like a girl if she had decided to pick Artie over him. And maybe it was a little shameful to admit, but he honestly didn't even give a damn as long as he could still be with her. "You're worth more than my jealousy, T," he hugged her tightly, burying his nose in her hair. "Much more."

Because it was the truth and if he had to find another way to convince her, he'd do it.

* * *

**A/N: A quick update for you guys! More drama coming up! :O **

**What did you guys think of this chapter?  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Another chapter! Fluffy! Enjoy. :) A little more M-rated, perhaps?  
**

**

* * *

**The holiday break came at just the right time for Tina. She kind of had the feeling that if she had to take another exam, she would end up exploding. Exactly a week before Christmas, their last classes_ finally_ finished and their glee rehearsal had been canceled- much to Rachel Berry's dismay- and Tina hadn't felt this refreshed in a very, _very_ long time. As she pulled on her chunky black mittens and soft, fluffy scarf, she sighed happily, sinking into Mike as he snaked his arm around her waist.

"Guess what?" Mike asked cheerfully as they exited the school, the snowflakes instantly greeting them as they walked toward his car.

"Mmm what?" Tina asked absently as she tilted her head up to look at the bleary gray sky, allowing the cold snowflakes to land on her cheeks. It felt kind of good.

"My parents' anniversary is over break and they're going to Hawaii for a week," he beamed.

"You're going to Hawaii for a _week_?" She spluttered incredulously. "Over Christmas?" All her plans for break were flying out the window. All the movie marathons, dinner dates, afternoons that they were supposed to spend drinking coffee and playing board games. She had even considered going skiing sometime before Christmas, and she _definitely_ needed his help with that.

He chuckled. "Tina, I don't think you were listening very carefully. _My parents_ are going to Hawaii for a week for _their_ anniversary."

She stopped dead in her tracks because _this_ news was kind of too good to be true. "_What_? So you're gonna be home alone for a _week_?"

He grinned. "I think we're on the same page now."

"_Mike!_" Tina's words were starting to quaver with her excitement. "Does this mean we can hang out for a _week_?" Her mind instantly shot to a mental image his empty, empty house and all the potential that it had for the two of them.

"Well, kind of," he unlocked his door, opening the passenger side door for her. "_Your_ parents are still in town."

"I guess they'll keep us in line, then," Tina frowned, disappointed. "Although..."

"Although what?" He raised an eyebrow, undoubtedly hearing the scheming tone in her voice. He started up the car and fiddled with the temperature dials on his dashboard.

"Well... sometimes I have sleepovers with Mercedes and Rachel," Tina said slowly. "If you know what I mean?"

His thrilled expression was completely priceless. "I _do_ know what that means. It means that maybe you and I can have our own little sleepover?"

She was starting to feel foolishly giddy but she didn't even care because her excitement far outstripped her humility. "_Yes_. Maybe more than once, too?"

Mike laughed, slipping his hand into hers while he kept his eyes on the road. "If I had it my way, you'd be staying at my place for the entire week."

"Ughh," she groaned. "Don't tempt me." Because spending the whole week with Mike, just the two of them, would have been the best, _best_ way to spend break. Ever.

He winked at her, "Of course I'm gonna tempt you. _I've_ got nothing to lose."

"The things you do to me," she shook her head. "You'll be the death of me, Mike Chang."

"That's funny," he replied breezily, twiddling the steering wheel, "because _you_ are the life in _me_."

"You are so corny."

"So? You love me."

"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

* * *

Sometimes, Tina was inordinately grateful that her super Asian parents were severely anti-social. Sure, they only talked to other Asian parents (there weren't many in Lima, so her parents didn't really have any friends), but it also meant that when she had informed her parents that Mercedes had invited her to sleepover at her house that night, Tina could be sure that her parents would never call Mercedes' house to check up on her. Besides, her parents trusted her... most of the time. Granted, they had been much more wary of what she did on weekends ever since she started dating Mike, but it wasn't out of control or anything. Bless her mother for keeping her dad from ripping Mike's head off whenever they went out on a date on Friday nights. And even so, her dad had gotten a lot better, too- last time Mike had stayed for dinner at her house, her dad actually held a civil and _lively_ conversation with Mike about college.

As she packed her duffel bag with everything she would need for her overnight stay, she was surprised when her mom shuffled into her room. Tina's mom was kind of a typical Asian mom in almost every way imaginable. She was painfully short (which Tina hadn't quite forgiven her for yet- she hated being short and those genes undoubtedly came from her mother) and she spent half her life in a pale green apron that was wrinkled to fit her body and she was consistently wringing her hands, fussing over every little thing that Tina did. Last time, Tina had come home sniffling from the cold and her mother had absolutely _pounced _on her with a hot water bottle, a steaming teapot, a huge down comforter, and a box of Kleenex. Tina loved her mom, she really did, but sometimes she couldn't help but wonder how high her mother's blood pressure was.

"Hi mom," she piped up as she stuffed her toiletries into her black duffel bag. "What's up?" Her mom didn't really tend to come into her room- she mostly stayed in the study room or kitchen, preferring to shout for Tina to go to where _she_ was instead.

"Just wanted to make sure you stay safe tonight," her mom said, fumbling with her words a little.

_What_? "Mom, I'm sleeping over with _Mercedes_. There's nothing to be safe _from_."

"You kids," her mom waved a hand in the air. "You party."

"_Mom_," she frowned. "I _don't_ do that. I don't even drink." Which was kind of a lie, she realized, as she had gotten extremely, _extremely _drunk at Rachel's party. But that was beside the point.

"I know," her mom said dismissively. "But... but no matter what you're doing tonight... Stay safe, okay?"

"It'll be okay, mom," she said soothingly. "Mercedes and I are just gonna stay up all night watching chick flicks and eating ice cream. The only real danger is gaining ten pounds by the end of the night."

Her mom looked a little dubious. "Okay..."

Tina laughed, hoping it didn't sound nervous or betraying. "_Mom_. I'll stay safe, okay? Does that make you feel better."

"Yes," her mom said firmly, kissing Tina at the top of her head before leaving the room. "Then have fun, sweetie."

"Thanks, mom."

She zipped up her duffel bag and swung it over her shoulder, picking her purse off the ground and hurrying out of the room. Her dad was out on business so she was allowed to drive his car over to Mike's place. It was only on these rare occasions that she got to use the car, but she didn't think much of it, mostly because her dad drove a beat-up Subaru Outback and it wasn't all that impressive, anyway. But a car was a car, she shrugged internally as she shouted goodbye to her mom and scrambled into her car, her patience wearing thin with forty-five miles per hour speed limits and red lights that lasted an eternity. She could get to Mike's house with her eyes closed, but time was the real issue, as she tapped impatiently on her steering wheel.

When she finally pulled up onto his driveway, feeling kind of weird that his garage door was closed- she was so used to seeing it open with the Changs' two cars parked neatly inside- but remembering exactly what that meant. She sprinted out of her car and found herself on his porch, ringing the doorbell, practically keeling over with excitement.

She didn't have to wait long, however, because he answered the door in a matter of seconds.

"_Tina_!" He greeted her exuberantly, picking her up and swinging her in a half-circle before dropping gently inside his house.

"_Hi_," she breathed, looping her arms around his neck. He smelled like soap. She inhaled the scent deeply, sighing happily while exhaling because it was kind of finally hitting home that she was going to spend the night at Mike's place. The _whole night_. Just the two of them.

"Hey," Mike smiled, taking her hand and dragging her into the kitchen. "I need your help."

She laughed. "With what?" The Changs' house was as clean as always, perhaps even more so than usual- everything was practically gleaming in his kitchen. It was something her family had never really been able to grasp. She was pretty sure there was an entire row of expired products in her pantry back at home.

"I popped a pizza into the oven," he explained, motioning toward the oven. "But I think something's wrong."

Curious, she raked her eyes over the stove and oven, her eyes landing on the dials. "Mike... you turned on the _stove_, not the oven." She cracked up, unable to stifle her laughter. "You're such a _boy_."

He bit his lip, clearly embarrassed, "Hey! Don't make fun of me! It was an honest mistake."

"Honest? Mike, there are little pictures next to the dials that show the stove," she managed between laughs, flicking the stove off and preheating the oven. "How you manage to mess up Digiorno's is completely beyond me."

Mike pouted, "I didn't _mess it up_. I just made a teeny tiny mistake." He reached for her waist, pulling her close to him. She

"Aww sure you did," Tina teased, touching her nose to his. "But if I hadn't arrived, you would have been feasting on a frozen pizza for dinner tonight."

"True," he nodded, reaching over to turn off the oven. "Not now," he responded to her confused look. "That pizza isn't the only reason why I'm glad you're here. Dinner fiasco aside, I was kind of hoping we could go outside for a bit." He reached for his coat, which was lying on the island and zipped it up.

"It's snowing outside," she frowned a little.

"So? Where's our sense of adventure?" Mike grinned.

"Hey! I have a fantastic sense of adventure," she retorted, pulling her mittens out of her coat pocket.

"Oh yeah? Prove it."

And Tina Cohen-Chang found it pretty damn difficult to turn down a challenge like that. She was an inherently competitive girl, mostly because she hated to lose and also because people tended to taunt her with challenges all the time and she just drank them in because that's just how she _was_. He emitted an adorable little yelp as she growled playfully and chased him out the door. She slammed the door behind them and immediately turned to Mike, who was scampering toward the driveway.

"You are dead meat, Mike Chang," she scowled, running as fast as she could and tackling him into the snow. It was getting kind of dark outside, so the streetlamps were already on, but she could see his laughing face perfectly well. They sunk a little into the cold snow as she straddled him, pinning him to the ground. Immediately taking advantage of her position, she tickled every inch of him that she could reach, laughing breathlessly as he squirmed.

"Give up yet?"

"Never," he squeaked, adjusting himself underneath her. His breath was foggy in the air and it met hers as they both giggled uncontrollably. Sometimes she forgot how cute he sounded when he laughed.

"You sure about that?" Tina grinned as he continued to squirm. The snow was starting to seep through her pants and she could feel her legs getting extremely cold and wet. "Say you love me."

"That's easy!" He gasped for breath. "I love you. I love you I love you I love you."

Tina laughed, letting him go as she stood up. Her boots were starting to soak through as well, and she could feel the snow melting in her hair. "I'm so wet."

His eyebrows shot up to his hairline at these words and she instantly blushed when she realized how he took her words. She shoved him gently, sticking out her tongue.

"That's not really helping," he commented as he tried to dust the snow off of his coat.

"What's not really helping?"

"Your tongue."

"What... what do you mean?"

"You sticking out our tongue," he clarified as he hugged her to his body, "is not helping the fact that I want to take you up to my room right now and do things to you that I'm pretty sure the neighborhood kids would _not _want to know about."

She flushed, her cheeks warming as she tried to imagine what he was thinking about. "So maybe we can go inside and warm up?"

"Sure," he smiled, kissing her. His lips were so, so cold but still inhumanly soft and she welcomed the sensation.

Tearing apart from him, Tina bounded toward the porch with Mike behind her. She was just about ready to open his front door when she felt something hit her square in the butt. She whipped around to find Mike standing underneath a soft pool of yellow light coming from his porch light with a gleeful expression on her face. Her eyes darted to the ground, where the snowball in question had landed.

"Bulls-eye," he said happily. Mike practically skipped to her side, squeezing her butt playfully. "Aww don't be mad, T. You know I love your butt."

She narrowed her eyes at him and pounced on his back in response. Laughing, he swung open the front door, hooking one of his arms under her leg to support her. "Where to, miss?"

"Bathroom," she commanded as he sped into the room. "I need to change out of these clothes. And maybe we can take a hot shower or something?"

"T- together?" Mike's astounded voice was so worth it. She grinned, even though he couldn't see her face.

"Of course," she replied cheerfully. "Showering by myself would be lonely, obviously."

"Obviously," he croaked as he walked slowly up the stairs, his hands gripping tightly onto her legs. He steered them to the left and they ended up in his bathroom. She was kind of enjoying this. Especially his very, very priceless expression. His eyes were huge and his mouth was slightly agape.

He let her down and she kissed his neck, "Thanks for the ride."

"Anytime."

She peeled her soaked coat off and hung it on the silver hanger on the wall. She kept an eye on him as he watched her continue- she worked from top to bottom, starting with her black blazer. If there was one moment when her confidence shone more than any other time, it was when she could reduce him to a silent, awestruck statue.

"Tina..."

She bit her lip, shimmying her way out of the blazer and pulling the tank top from underneath off as well, exposing her lacy black bra. "What?" She answered quietly as she continued her little striptease, now working on her pants, pulling them down over her hips slowly, as tantalizingly as she could manage.

"N-nothing."

Tina smiled, her pants falling to her ankles. She stepped out of them and approached him slowly, her hands immediately reaching for his wet jeans. "Mmm well I think you're wearing too much clothing for a shower."

She watched, satisfied, as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, signifying a gulp. She could sympathize, of course, since she kind of felt the same way, she realized as she undressed him as quickly as she could manage and pulled him into the shower, their bare skin grazing each other in an extremely alluring way that made her lick her lips with anticipation.

* * *

Tina was fairly certain that she and Mike had wasted several gallons of water in a shower that lasted several times longer than it should have. To be fair, it was hard to step out and dry off when the much more appealing, wet, slippery body of Mike Chang was pressed up against her and the warmth of the water enveloped her as the water sprayed down on them. And yeah, they spent more time with their lips locked than actually washing themselves, but it was also kind of fun running the bar of soap up and down each other's bodies. And even though it wasn't anything she'd never seen before, the tumbling drops of water made the entire experience all the more...exciting. She had a very difficult time keeping her eyes away from his body, that was for sure.

When they finally decided to shut off the water, he plucked a towel off its hanger and wrapped it around both of them as they pulled the shower curtain away.

"It's gonna be kind of hard to dry off when there are two bodies and one towel," she commented.

"So? This way's more fun," he grinned, rubbing her down with the ends of the towel. It was very hard not to push him to the ground and continue where they had left off in the shower.

"My pajamas are in my duffel bag downstairs," she realized as they dried off.

"So leave them there," he shrugged. "I'd much rather you wear one of my shirts."

She laughed, "Why?"

"It's sexy," he grinned. "You have no idea."

Tina giggled, kissing him quickly on the cheek. "Well then let's make a run for your room because I bet it's like negative forty degrees out there."

Mike draped the towel over their shoulders and wrapped his arm around her waist and they broke out of the bathroom, speeding toward his room down the hallway before diving into his bed and under the covers.

"Here," his words were muffled as his mouth was pressed up against her shoulder. He had produced a worn white t-shirt from the foot of the bed and handed it to her. "You can wear this." He tumbled out of the bed.

"Where are you going?" She whined, slipping the shirt on and frowning.

"I need to get some clothes on," he laughed. "I'm freezing."

"No. No clothes. I don't like clothes."

"Speak for yourself," he teased, tweaking her nose. "But my body is going to freeze and you're gonna have to pop me in the oven to defrost me."

She watched him thoughtfully, a little bit entranced, as he pulled on a pair of checkered boxers (as if he didn't wear enough plaid- she had seen his closet before, his plaid shirts took up an entire drawer) and dove back into the bed with her. She hummed appreciatively when he wrapped his body around hers, encompassing her with his arms. His skin was smooth and soft against hers and she sighed, sinking herself into him.

"Couldn't you just lie here forever?" He breathed into her ear, squeezing her tight against him.

She was kind of blown away by the truth in his words, mostly because that was _exactly_ how she felt at that very moment. "Absolutely."

* * *

**A/N: Fluffy chapter is fluffy! Haha hope you enjoyed it, though. Let me know what you thought? Review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Yes, I'm still posting chapters for this story, but expect more chapters from _Girl Next Door_ as well! **

**This chapter is pretty smutty, so you have been warned! (Changed the rating of this story to M because it's about to get steamy) Enjoy. :)**

**

* * *

**

Mike had ultimately decided two things over the holidays. One, spending time with Tina all the time was pure bliss and he was going to miss it like crazy once school started up again. And two, leaving his college applications until the week before they were due was a horribly stupid mistake. He had spent three consecutive nights up past midnight, a mug of coffee on his desk and his Skype running continuously all night long. Tina had finished her applications weeks and weeks ago, which, he guessed, was why she had been stressing so hard earlier on. But she stayed up with him at night on Skype, keeping him company while he attempted to craft essays that were nothing more than futile attempts at each essay prompt. But she was good about it. She encouraged him, gave him helpful tips, and woke him up whenever he nodded off. She had spent the night at his house twice over break, which was incredible, though he felt like he was getting a little spoiled because of it. He started to feel lonely at night in bed, half-expecting to feel her body pressed up against his when he turned off the lights to go to sleep. But she wasn't there and he didn't get to see her every minute as he would have liked, and he was starting to grow tired of buying groceries- seriously, he didn't realize it took so much effort just to buy _food_.

But one question surfaced after the second time Tina had slept over. They were lying in his bed, her figure folded neatly in his arms, when his phone vibrated from the nightstand. Grumbling, he reached for it and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Chang, party at my place tonight. You in?" It was Puck. Of course it was, no one else talked like that.

"I can't," he mumbled into the phone, running his other free hand up and down Tina's arm. "Tina's over."

"Bring her, too. The more the merrier."

"Uh..." Mike hesitated, glancing down at Tina, who was looking up at him, her head tilted in confusion. "I think we'd rather stay in today."

"Wh- _ohhhh_," Mike could practically hear the grin in Puck's voice. "Gettin' your sex on, Chang?"

"What? Puck, shut up," Mike scowled. He could hear Puck snickering on the other end. "Have fun tonight."

"I can't believe you won't come. I was gonna ask you to drive some people home tonight? But you two are going to be too busy going at it like a pair of bunnies tonight, aren't you?"

He groaned, "Why don't you have Finn drive everyone home?"

"Finn wants to get buzzed tonight," Puck replied matter-of-factly.

"_Puck_. Not tonight."

"Fine. Buzzkill." Puck hung up with a huff. "You better be getting some crazy action tonight."

"_Goodbye_, Puck." Mike ended the call and tossed the phone back onto the nightstand.

"What did he want?" Tina asked blearily, edging in closer to his chest.

"Just to invite us to some dumb party at his place," Mike said softly, squeezing her gently before pulling the covers over their shoulders. She smelled like his shampoo, which made him feel kind of satisfied in a weird, territorial sense. As if the scent helped signify that she belonged to _him_.

"Then why did you tell him to shut up?" Tina asked absently, dragging her finger down his chest and then tugging at the hem of his shirt.

"Oh. Nothing," Mike shrugged, kissing her hair.

"No, seriously," she smiled, touching her nose to his chin. "What did he say?"

"You don't wanna know."

"Yes, I do!"

"Nope."

"_Mike_," she tickled him, whining. "Tell me!"

He didn't really want to say anything, mostly because sex was kind of a weird topic between the two of them. Not because they haven't done anything- in fact, Tina was the complete opposite of a prude- but because he wasn't sure when the right time was for the two of them. And the last thing he wanted to do was offend or hurt her by pushing sex on her too early. His friends, like Finn and Puck, both assumed that they've long since started having sex, and Mike didn't really have the heart to inform them otherwise. Besides, he was perfectly happy with where he and Tina were, despite the fact that they had been going out for quite some time now. He never really understood high school students' quick obsession with having sex so early on in a relationship, anyway. Sex was infinitely more important to him than to some of his friends, which he got teased constantly about, but whatever.

"He said," Mike cleared his throat awkwardly, trying not to look at her. "That we were 'getting our sex on' tonight." The words sounded lame and stupid in his own ears.

Tina giggled, the sweet, adorable sound escaping her lips in a flurry. She glanced up at him, her laughter disappearing slowly as she surveyed him carefully with her bright eyes. "Well... are we?"

Mike wasn't really sure what happened in that moment, but he kind of felt his heart stop beating almost instantaneously. Because if he hadn't heard incorrectly, Tina had just implicitly mentioned the possibility of them... having sex. His mind was spinning, and he swallowed _hard_ when she bit her lip, waiting for his answer. Because it wasn't as if he hadn't thought about it before- quite the contrary, he has spent many, _many_ hours imagining it. But it was as if his biggest fantasy had just materialized before him and he really wasn't sure what to think. Or say. Or _do_.

"I- wh- we- " Mike stammered, very, _very_ aware of the fact that she was now trailing her fingers into the waistband of his boxers.

"We don't have to if you don't want to," Tina said softly, tangling her legs with his under the blanket. He saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes. Or maybe he imagined it. Yeah, he probably imagined it because she couldn't possibly want to do this. With him. Now. _Say something, you idiot_.

"I...I want to," he croaked, trying again to clear his throat. "So badly," he cupped her face in his hands, rotating on his hips so that he could gently turn her onto her back. He set one knee down on either side of her and kept himself up on his hands, trying not to weigh her down. "But do _you_?"

"Of course I do," she breathed, her eyes wider than he'd ever seen them.

"I just... The first time... It has to be perfect," he mumbled, watching her closely. For her reaction. For some type of expression that might tell him how she's feeling right at that moment.

"It _is_ perfect," Tina said softly. "I've never wanted you more." She tugged gently at his waistband again. "And by the looks of it, I would say the feeling is mutual." She winked deviously at him as they both averted their attention to the pure, physical evidence that proved his current lust for her.

He swooped down quickly and caught her lips with his, their tongues dancing in between their mouths. She tasted like... like her usual self but all of a sudden, his taste buds began picking up hints of things he had never experienced before. It was as if someone had drugged her lips, forcing him to keep his mouth on hers, as if he couldn't get enough of the taste of her because he just _couldn't_. She was running her hands up his arms, catching hold of his t-shirt and attempting to tug it over his head. He released his arms from the bed to allow her to drag the shirt off, the whole time gluing his hands to her arms, her face, her neck- anything on her that he could reach. He couldn't really remember when the blankets had fallen to the floor, but he didn't really care, either. All he knew was that his t-shirt joined them on the ground and before he knew it, he was pulling _his_ t-shirt off of _Tina's_ body and he still couldn't get over how sexy she looked with it on. Until she had it off, of course, because then he realized how mind-blowingly sexy she looked when all he could see was her pale, creamy skin. They've been down this road before- where they were basically ripping each other's clothes off and tossing them in a messy trail behind them, but this time, he felt infinitely more timid. _Man up_, _you sissy_, his mind snapped at him and he shut the voice out before turning back to Tina, who was already tugging impatiently at his boxers.

He took a moment to realize that he was actually _panting_ like a freaking fool as she traced kisses up and down his neck, traveling her way down his chest. He tried not to shiver, but failed miserably when she shimmied down the bed a little and kissed just underneath his navel, then proceeding to drag her warm tongue along the lowest point of his stomach. _Shit_. That was it for the both of them. Tina's eyes were wild with a fiery flare that he had only seen once before- in his car after a football game a while back when she had basically pushed him into the backseat and treated him to the steamiest make-out session he could ever imagine. It was the same thing now. Except not at all, because everything he was feeling must have been multiplied by a thousand. No, a _million_.

She was grabbing his hands in hers. He had no idea what she was doing at first but by the time she had dragged his hands to her bra clasp, he kind of felt like he had a good idea. Unhooking it in a matter of seconds, he got on his knees, tossing the bra off the bed and _jesus christ. _Again, Tina's breasts are nothing he hadn't seen before, but in that exact moment, it was as if he was viewing them in a whole new light because they swelled up beautifully- so damn beautifully and he was getting very, _very_ dizzy. He clenched his fists, surprised when she suddenly flipped him onto his back and he found her straddling him, her very nearly naked body in plain view.

"We're tied," she hissed raggedly as he raked his fingers down her torso.

"What?" He could barely remember his own name, let alone decipher whatever it was she was trying to say.

"You've got your underwear on and I've got mine," she whispered. "I say we lose them both and get to business."

"Deal," he didn't even need to think twice. He snagged his finger underneath her black lacy panties and dragged them down her long legs, his breath hitching a little as they fell to her ankles. "So beautiful," he murmured.

It doesn't take him more than five seconds tor realize that his new favorite sound in the entire world is the sound of her moan. It escaped her lips like a little gasp, and he could feel his knees reduce to absolute jello at the sound. She was making quick work with his boxers, bunching them up in her hands and dragging them (not before they got caught on his erection, however) and tossing them aside. He watched her anxiously as she flipped onto her back again and stared at him, half-expectantly, half-worriedly.

"_Mike_..." Her voice was a soft wail and it just about slayed him right then and there.

"I'm here, T," he whispered into her ear, rolling on top of her and carrying his weight on his arms again. He could feel her body just... just _radiating_ warmth and all he wanted to do was press his body against hers but suddenly, that desire is the least of his concerns as her _hand_... her hand was suddenly stroking him and his brain...his brain just about explodes.

For a pair of virgins, he was kind of stunned at both her hands moving rather expertly and _his _own hands that were apparently moving on their own accord because they were roaming from her breasts to her hair to her waist and he couldn't really stop. All he knew was that he felt an almost painful _need_ to touch and kiss her _everywhere_. Her stroking quickened, and he kind of felt like his body had officially become immobilized.

"_T,_" he managed in a strangled voice.

"Do you have-?"

"Yeah," he breathed, reluctantly tearing away from her as he reached over to his nightstand, pulling open the bottom drawer and diving his hand in it to reach for a condom. He kind of hoped that she wouldn't ask about when and why he bought them- mostly because he had gone out and purchased them a couple weeks ago when his parents had told him that they were leaving for Hawaii during the break. It was kind of embarrassing, really, that he had taken advantage of the situation and something inside of him had urged him to go out and get condoms as if he had _expected_ to have sex with her while his parents were gone, but... to be perfectly honest, in retrospect, it wasn't such a bad decision. Especially because he felt that if he didn't do anything about the throbbing pain soon, he would just keel over and die.

She grabbed the condom from him and ripped it open, yanking the flattened condom out and rolling it over him insanely fast. "Mike. _Mike_, I _need_..."

"What do you need, Tina? What do you need, love?" He kissed her neck, and after she had finished, he ground his hips against hers.

"Inside. Now."

And it was the most commanding he had ever heard her been, but he realized that he _loved _it because all of a sudden, it felt like she needed him almost as much as he needed her. In his eagerness to get a move on, he suddenly realized. Was it going to hurt? For her? God, what if he hurt her? He stopped mid-motion and felt his heart race even faster. He didn't _really_ know what he was doing, mostly because all he had ever experienced in terms of sex was the internet, but he knew enough to understand that it could hurt her a _lot_ if he wasn't careful.

"Why... why are you... keep... why did you stop?" She mumbled, craning her neck to kiss him again.

"I don't... I don't want to hurt you," he whispered. "Tina, are you..."

"If you ask me if I'm sure, I swear to god I will drop kick you out of my house."

"But..."

"_Mike_." Her voice was broken and ragged.

"Just... just tell me if I have to stop, okay? Just let me know."

"_Inside_."

Her urgency propelled him to continue. He focused his weight on his hands and, with a deep breath, eased just the tiniest amount into her, his heart stopping when her breath caught in her throat. Mike immediately pressed his lips to the nape of her neck, offering her soft, reassuring kisses as he edged in a little deeper. And a little deeper...

He had no idea what she was feeling right at that moment (though her soft moans were _definitely_ a good signal), but he felt like he had just fallen off the face of the earth and floated up to heaven or something because god. _Damn. _She was very tight- nearly painfully so, but at the same time, it felt so earth-shatteringly incredible that he felt like he was ready to collapse, but he also felt like if he didn't start _moving_ he might just crack into a million tiny pieces.

"Are... are you okay?" He hissed as he pushed his hips forward just a little bit more and he had a feeling that he might have gone all the way at that point because he was buried deep inside and also felt like his body was shaking with pleasure.

"No."

"_What_? T, what's wrong? What did I do wrong?" Oh, god. Oh god oh god what did he mess up?

"I'm... not okay because you're not. Moving," she said through gritted teeth, thrusting her hips forward in one fluid motion and suddenly a wave of the most incredible feeling in the entire _world_ washed over him.

That was all he needed to hear because she had basically given him the green light, confirming that they had stepped over the threshold and he started pumping forward and back, slowly at first but picking up a little bit of speed as she tugged at his hair. He didn't even really notice when her nails dug deep, _deep_ into his the skin on his back and she let the sexiest, most guttural moan yet out and now he knew. He knew that she was just killing him, ripping him to little pieces and he couldn't really remember where his hands were, but he knew that they had traveled all over her- cupping her breasts in them, stroking her hair with them comfortingly as he eased himself in and out, framed her gorgeous, gorgeous face with them as he kissed her more fiercely than he had ever managed before.

The crazy thing was, the more he moved deep inside of her, the more he firmly believed that they fit each other absolutely perfectly because when he was inside her, he felt like pulling out again would be the stupidest idea in the entire universe- and he could think of was how incredible it felt each time she thrust her hips against his.

And before he had any time to react, Tina, emboldened by her sudden comfort with the situation, flipped him to his back so that she was straddling him once more and never had he ever felt more out of control but at the same time he really couldn't give a damn because she was sliding up and down slowly, her face pink and her eyes wrinkled in concentration and _shit_.

"_Tina_," he grasped the sheets in both fists, unable to control the tempo at all but she was doing such a good job of it that who the hell cared? He could _feel_ her so much more now and she felt wet and tight and _so damn good_ that he actually feared that he might pass out. His head was pressed hard against the the pillow and his teeth were grinding non-stop because she was seriously pushing him over the edge.

And it was honestly kind of embarrassing for it to happen so early but his breath caught in his throat and he gasped, "_Tina_, I... right... now."

"With me," she ordered, her voice cracking as she let out another long, satisfied moan.

"With...?"

"With me," she repeated, rolling onto her side so that they were facing each other and he took the hint to take control again. He pumped, pumped because he felt like he was tightrope walking and if he didn't feel relief soon he would fall a million miles to his death.

And their incoherent words and groans mingled in the air and he couldn't freaking _see_ anything except for Tina. Tina, who was throwing her head back in pleasure, exposing delicious amounts of her neck and he latched onto her pulse point with his lips while they both shook to their finishing points, their ragged, uneven breaths filling each other's ears.

He could feel the air and blood and _sanity_ leaving his body at incontestable speeds as he reached his peak and felt the entire room crash down around them. He could hear her gasping for breath and he kind of felt the same way as they collapsed into each other- her body nestling into his as he pulled out of her slowly. Her entire body was heaving up and down and it was so unbelievably sexy that he almost felt like he was ready for a second round except for the aching fatigue in his bones.

They were quiet for quite a long time. The only sounds in the room were their heavy breathing, and her hand found his as she laced his fingers in between each of his own.

Mike turned onto his side to face her- Tina's hair is an absolute mess in the hottest possible way and her lips were pink and swollen from each time he had sucked mercilessly on them.

"...T?" He finally managed nervously when she didn't say anything for another minute or so.

"Why didn't we do that until now?"

* * *

**A/N: Whooo! :) Hope you guys enjoyed, and hope it wasn't too much? Or too little? I'm not sure, so let me know! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: New chapter! Nothing like the last one, but hope you enjoy it! :)**

**

* * *

**Tina found that after her first time with Mike, it kind of seemed like all moments in time were okay to touch him. Mostly because now she felt like she always needed to be feeling him with any part of her body and his body- it didn't even matter when and where because all she could remember was what it felt like to be so unbelievably close to him and all she _knew_ was that she needed that feeling. All the time. And it kind of rained on her individualistic parade a little but to be perfectly honest, she couldn't have cared less.

Because her mind had all sorts of crazy expectations for their first time, probably because she was a girl and girls always built up the idea of sex in their minds, and she had been worried for quite some time now that her expectations would become reality- the good and the bad. For one, she had expected it to hurt like hell, which it kind of did at first, but after a certain point, all she could think of was how much more she wanted. She had also worried that sex wouldn't have been as big of a deal as everyone had built it up to be. Her main concern was that it wouldn't feel as incredible as everyone claimed. Mostly because she couldn't really imagine how something could feel _that_ good.

But it had. It _had_ felt _that_ good and now it was difficult to walk down the halls with Mike and not want to rip his pants off right then and there. She still couldn't really believe that they had waited that long but she kind of had the feeling that both of them were too afraid to hurt the other one's feelings. But ever since she had found out that he and Brittany weren't even going out, let alone having sex, the idea had been lurking in her mind consistently. And then recently, what with her discovering that his parents would be gone for a week and the possibilities of their alone time just swirling around in her brain, the idea became even more prominent.

What it basically came down to was that she regretted _nothing_. Which she had always been afraid of growing up because of all the terrifying stories that people had offered her about losing your virginity and totally regretting it afterward. She wanted her first time to be special, just as Mike had voiced the other night, but in that exact moment and even afterward, she had known it would be perfect because it was with him.

"Penny for your thoughts."

Mike was looking rather amused, probably because she had told him the other day that she was daydreaming more and more often about... the two of them, and she had a feeling that he was kind of letting that get to his head.

"They're worth way more than a penny," she teased, kicking his shin gently with her foot.

"I'll bet," he smirked, running one hand through his unkempt hair. He was getting _so _cocky. She never should have told him how good he was the other night.

"I am so never telling you anything ever again."

"But it's so much more fun this way."

They were lying in her bed, both on their backs as they absently kept their eyes trained on the ceiling. Her parents were due home soon, so they had kept the clothes-shedding and making out to a minimum. His hand had looped its way into hers and she turned onto her side to face him. "I wouldn't want to let anything else get to your head."

He pouted, "Why not?"

"Because! Just because you were great in bed doesn't mean you get to parade it over my head," she poked his chest defiantly.

"So? If I told you that you were great in bed, you'd be pretty happy, too."

"Am I?"

"Are you what?"

"Great in bed?" Tina asked, genuinely curious. Because it was pretty clear at the time that Mike had been enjoying himself, but to be honest, she wasn't sure just how _much_ he was enjoying it.

"Well, I don't really have a frame of reference-"

"-Neither do I."

"-But you were good enough to make me realize that I don't _want_ a frame of reference."

And it was pretty damn cute the way he had said it and the way he had given her a big, goofy grin. She inched closer to him and kissed him on the nose. In response, he circled his arms around her waist and pulled her even closer, a satisfied hum escaping his mouth.

"Mike?"

"Hmm?"

"Where did you end up applying? To college?" Tina had had this on her mind for quite a while now. Because even though she had insisted that he should apply wherever he wanted and _not_ New York because that's where she was probably headed, she couldn't help but feel a little bit anxious about where _he_ was headed next year. Because the truth was, she couldn't really imagine going _anywhere_ without him. And the rational side of her brain was telling her that this was just a high school relationship and getting caught up in it without keeping her eyes on the future was foolish and ridiculous. But he was _Mike_ and sometimes she physically _ached_ when they didn't get to see each other any given day- like when he had caught the stomach flu and was bedridden for two days. It was totally unlike her, but it didn't matter because sometimes, her emotions successfully beat down Logical Tina.

"UCLA..." He said slowly, tracing his fingers up and down her arms. "Swarthmore. NYU-"

"_NYU_?" Half of her wanted to scream at him for not listening to her but the other half was already throwing a party. He had applied to NYU. _NYU_. Tisch was a _part_ of NYU. They would be within _walking distance_ of each other. They could spend the night at each other's _dorms_. Her mind was already racing, but Logical Tina made an appearance again. "Didn't I say not to apply to schools because of me?"

"Hey! That's pretty selfish. What if I just wanted to apply to NYU?"

"But you've _never _mentioned it before..."

"I did some college researching a while back," he shrugged.

"So is that it? Those three?" She was still trying to decide whether or not to be mad at him.

"No... I applied to SUNY Stony Brook."

"_Another New York school_?" She was fairly certain now that he couldn't pull off this research thing for very much longer. In fact, her heart was doing that one thing where half it was swelling with anticipation and the other half was deflating with frustration. How could he have done this to her?

"Hey, it's a good school. Besides, it's out east, which is what my parents want."

Tina wasn't really sure whether or not to be mad about this whole situation. "But Mike... The last thing I want you to do is follow me and give up something great like UCLA. I don't want to be just like this dead weight that drags you around. Besides, like I said before... What if you meet another girl and fall in love with her? You'd look back on this and regret it _so much_."

He reached for her shoulders and pulled her up so that they were both on their knees. "Tina. I don't have a dream school like you do. I _know_ how badly you want to go to Tisch. But I don't feel that way about any college out there. I just want to go to a decent college and study something that I find interesting. If I can manage that _and_ end up in the same state as you, how great would that be? And if you say that I'm going to fall in love with another girl _one more time_, I swear to god I'm leaving right now."

She offered him a watery smile, already feeling the tears forming in the inner corners of her eyes. "We're in _high school_, Mike. Who's to say what's going to happen in the future?"

He was stroking her hair, pulling her head in to rest on his chest as he cradled her gently. "I'm not planning _everything_ for the future," he said slowly. "I'm making a decision about what I want to do after this year is over. And all I know now is that I want to be with you after we graduate, okay? The only thing that would change my mind is if _you_ didn't feel the same way."

Tina shook her head, "You're crazy, Mike."

"Do you want to be with me?"

A hundred different things were going on in her head at once. _Yes_, she wanted to be with him very, _very_ much but despite that, she knew that both of them had responsibilities. Responsibilities to work for their goals and she didn't want to hinder of any of his. He had mentioned before that his dad expected him to carry on the family business after Mike got out of college and Tina had stored that little piece of information in that back of her mind. But with March and college decisions approaching rapidly, the fact that they were two separate people with two separate dreams was really starting to get to her head.

"Of course I do," she managed finally.

"Well, then, you can expect to see me in the audience of all of your Broadway shows."

And she loved him for that.

* * *

The next day, they both got slushied. Now that she thought about it, she actually hadn't felt the stinging pain of ice being tossed at her face in quite a while, but usually, the jocks made their way around the usual victims as if in a cycle. And even though this was the umpteenth time that both she and Mike had gotten slushied together, it still broke her heart to see him splutter colored ice out of his mouth and blink away the juice from his eyes.

"Let's go," she sighed, taking his hand and dragging him into the girls' restroom. It was one of those ones without the stalls- just one toilet and sink, so she flipped the toilet seat down and pushed him gently down to sit on it.

"I'm getting kind of tired of this," he commented absently as she handed him a roll of paper towels.

"All you'd have to do is avoid walking with me down the hallways," Tina said slowly.

"That's stupid."

"Are you calling me stupid?" She scowled before wiping down her own eyes. The juice was starting to stick to her neck and shoulders and as it dripped into her dress, she groaned.

"No," he replied. "I'm saying it's a stupid idea to not walk with you at school. How else will everyone know you're my girl?"

He was joking, she knew, but she shook her head, "Why does it matter what other people think?"

He looked up at her with wide eyes, "It doesn't. I was teasing."

She didn't really know why she was being kind of difficult. She mostly felt really encumbered. And she had a feeling it was from guilt. Guilt over bringing Mike down with her wherever she went.

"T, what's wrong?" He asked, his voice filled with concern as he tossed the used paper towel into the trash can and reaching out for her hands.

She took them slowly. "I can't, Mike."

"You can't what, love?" He pulled her onto his lap which was kind of weird because they were sitting on a toilet, but that wasn't really the first thing on her mind at that moment.

"You see what happens here? Because of me, _you_ suffer. What if it's the same way after high school?"

"People don't really throw slushies outside of McKinley..."

"You know what I mean."

"I thought we talked about this yesterday," he said softly.

"That doesn't mean I've forgotten about it." Because she hadn't. She had spent a good hour lying in her room, picturing Mike at UCLA with a faceless, but still gorgeous, new girlfriend and rising to the top of his class with so many great things waiting for him in his future. And then she would imagine him following her at her heels in New York, being the typical nice guy that he was while he waited outside audition rooms and consoled her when she didn't get the part. That was too unfair. Too unfair for someone who deserved so much better.

"I thought we reached an agreement, though," he corrected himself.

"I don't wanna mess anything up."

"You _aren't_. I promise, Tina."

She watched as a drop of the red slushy slid down his chin. She reached out with her finger to wipe it away, then licked her finger. "There's a lot you might regret."

"Just trust me, okay? This is _my _decision to make. In fact," he stood tapped her knee gently, "this conversation is officially _over_."

"Officially?"

"_Officially_. I'm putting my foot down."

"You're putting your _foot down_?" Tina spluttered. "This isn't a conversation you can just _end_ because you _say so_, you have to-"

"-_Tina_. _Foot. Down_." Mike stood them both up and pressed his lips firmly to hers before she had a chance to open them again. "No more of this, okay?"

She nodded, the taste of his lips completely intoxicating her. She couldn't even really remember what they were arguing about because her mind was already long gone.

* * *

Tina hadn't even realized how rapidly the rest of the year was approaching until Finn had asked Rachel to prom It was barely even March at that point and already Finn had made a huge scene after school one day by tossing roses down the hallway toward Rachel's locker with a huge sign that said: "WILL YOU GO TO PROM WITH ME?" in huge pink letters. Rachel had been ecstatic- that kind of thing was her cup of tea- a dramatic, showy type of thing that got the entire school's attention in a way so that everyone would know that she was dating Finn Hudson.

"What's going on?"

Mike had popped up at her side curiously. He was staring at the flowers and a beaming Rachel with his eyebrows practically up to his hairline.

"Finn just asked Rachel to prom." It kind of made Tina think. Obviously, she and Mike would go together, but part of her almost wondered if he expected that to go without saying and he wouldn't even bother asking her because it would just be a _given_. But the other part of her was kind of thankful because if he pulled something gushy and over-the-top-romantic like Finn, she might die of embarrassment. But it also made her kind of sad to think that he might not even ask- it just seemed like being asked to prom was part of the whole tradition.

"Were the roses really necessary?" Mike looked extremely amused. Sometimes, they thought on the exact same wavelength.

"Oh, yeah," Tina laughed good-naturedly. "It's an aesthetic touch."

"Clearly," Mike grinned as he looped his arm over her shoulder. "Rachel seems happy."

_Obviously_. Rachel's face looked like it might crack from how hard she was smiling. She had flung her arms around Finn and he was looking kind of sheepish but also immensely proud of himself for doing the right thing, apparently.

"I don't know whether to be happy for them or throw up."

"Definitely throw up," he suggested. "It'll add to the show."

Tina laughed. Forget thinking on the same wavelength. She and Mike pretty much _lived_ on the same wavelength.

* * *

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about the time skip but I want to keep the story moving along! :) Hope you guys enjoyed, let me know what you thought!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: New chapter! Hope you enjoy! :)**

**

* * *

**Mike was starting to sort of get the feeling that Tina wasn't even interested in prom. As they watched the hallways of McKinley explode with cheesy guys declaring their undying love to girls, Mike couldn't help but notice her reactions. Tina usually rolled her eyes and made some offhand comment about how ridiculous and embarrassing it was for both the guy and the girl. Which made sense to him, because some of the guys at McKinley were being incredibly cheesy, but it also scared him a little. She seemed so turned off by the traditions of a high school prom... what if she didn't even want to go? And if Tina didn't want to go to prom, he would respect that and everything, really, but it was their _senior year prom_. There had to be some kind of unofficial law that stated that every proper boyfriend should ask his girlfriend to prom, right? The thing was, how was he supposed to ask her when she didn't even seem to show any _interest_ in it?

He was forced to improvise. Not that he minded, really, but it definitely made things difficult when he and Tina would go out for a cup of coffee and she would be chatting about her day and all he could think about was _when? Where? How? _How was he going to manage to do it simply yet sweetly enough so that she wouldn't be tempted in saying no? Because that would just about break his heart if she decided to reject him. Which kind of made him sound like a girl, but it wasn't like he cared or anything._  
_

There seemed to be a million ways to ask a girl to prom, Mike noticed as more and more girls were getting asked. He and Tina had witnessed a plethora of megaphones, cafeteria announcements, flower and confetti explosions, and many other embarrassingly obnoxious methods. And from Tina's raised eyebrows, amused expressions, and just from what he had already known about her, he figured those kinds of methods weren't really the way to go for Tina. He had considered lots of different ideas that floated randomly in his mind.

At first, he thought of buying a big bucket of chalk and then showing up at school an hour early to write "Will you go to prom with me?" out on the school's driveway in front of the entrance, but he had a feeling Tina might get a little embarrassed by it, so he ruled that out. He had also considered doing a bit of a serenade during glee club, but that was a bit of a worn out idea- plus, his singing voice wasn't exactly anything to die for, as much as he could get by with it. At one point, he had even thought of enlisting the rest of the guys from glee club to help him write out "prom" on their t-shirts during class or something, but that seemed corny and overused as well. He was starting to get frustrated with the fact that _everything_ seemed to have already been done by someone else.

And even though all he had inferred was what she _didn't _want and not what she would want, it was a start.

"You've been quiet," she commented the next day as they leaned against his locker before class. They had made a bit of a tradition of it, mostly because it was hard _not_ to want to meet up with her in between classes. So they usually found each other right after the bell and just hanging out for the few minutes that they had. He wouldn't necessarily say that they were attached at the hip or anything, but they _did _like to squeeze out every moment possible at school in order to be around each other. So maybe they were a little attached...

She reached for his hand and gripped his fingers tightly with a small smile. Her fingers, as always, were warm and soft and comforting. "What's on your mind?" Sometimes, it frightened him how she could just _read_ him like he was this wide open book and it made him wonder if _everyone_ could just tell what he was thinking all the time. Was he really that obvious? Then again, she was _Tina_ and not only did she tend to be insightful, she _did_ spend a lot of time around him. He probably wasn't all that difficult to figure out.

"Nothing," he shrugged, trying to play it off. But suddenly, as she began bouncing on her toes in preparation to head to class, an idea formed. He eyed her moving legs with interest, frowning a little. It started off small but it grew _fast_ because suddenly, he had a way. _Possibly_. And he didn't know if it would be perfect or anything, but it would be right for _them_ and that's what mattered, right? "Hey, want to come over after school today?" He asked, his voice sounding shyer than he had intended.

"Sure," she beamed, tugging a little at his hand. "Why would I ever say no to that?" God, her smile was so adorable.

He didn't really have a response to that. But some crazy part of his brain as thinking "_Maybe if you knew I was going to ask you to prom you wouldn't want to."_

But he really would rather not have thought of it that way._  
_

_

* * *

_Mike was starting to worry that Tina would think that his idea was stupid. Like legitimately and certifiably stupid. Because the more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. And it was a good thing that they had been going out for so long, because if not, he might have been afraid that she really would have flat-out rejected him as well. But there was a lot to be said about the longevity of their relationship, and it gave him a sense of security. He hoped he wasn't jumping the gun or anything with that assumption.

They were sitting in his room, their legs folded into their arms, her head resting gently on his shoulder as they watched a rerun of Friends. He was only half paying attention to it, though, even if Tina was laughing her head off at something one of the main characters had just said. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she settled her head underneath his chin and made a small hum of satisfaction that made his insides stir with pleasure. Just seeing her so content made him feel _good_. Like everything was perfectly right at that very moment.

"T?" He had to do it. He just had to. And now was the perfect time, when they were settled into each other, comfortable and at ease.

"Mm?"

"Will you dance with me?"

She looked at him, her eyes big behind long, beautiful lashes that she was practically batting. "What?"

"Dance with me," he said a little more authoritatively, standing up slowly and pulling her up with him. She straightened as she stood, smoothing her dress down and cocking her head a little.

"There's no music," she laughed. Not a mean laugh. Just a cute, surprised one.

"Wait," he smiled and held up one finger. He shut off the TV and turned on his iHome, which was perched on his nightstand. He spun the little dial on his iPod to pick the song, already beginning to feel his heartbeat pick up.

As _Dream A Little Dream_ came on slowly, the first plunking notes of the instrumentals filling the room, Tina beamed at him. To be perfectly honest, he had been very hesitant to use this song because when they had danced to it a couple years ago, _Artie_ had sung it and the last thing he wanted to do was remind Tina of Artie when _he_ was trying to show her how much he loved her. In fact, he had kind of had a nightmare in which she heard this song and immediately renounced their relationship and declared her undying love for Artie, and he had woken up from the dream in a cold sweat. But she loved this song, and he knew she did- that's why she had picked it for the dance number she had arranged during their sophomore year- so he had finally and reluctantly settled on it. Besides, hopefully it would stir up the memory in her mind and she'd look back on it fondly as a tender moment that they had shared before their relationship.

He offered her his arms, and she took them, placing one hand on his shoulder and one clasped tightly with his hand and he led them through a simple waltz, twirling around the room. They were in their own little world at this point, he knew, because she had that lazily pleased expression in her eyes and all _he_ could think about was her. How she was pressed up against his body as they spun, how when they slowed down and just rocked gently back and forth, she nestled her head against his chest and he wondered absently if she could feel his heart pounding like crazy. Because she still had this crazy effect on him where if she got close enough, his heart would just absolutely _take off_ because she still kind of made him nervous. She could just find even the simplest ways to drive him crazy and he loved it but at the same time, it was kind of embarrassing that he couldn't keep his ridiculous hormones in control.

He really had no idea what she was thinking right now but she seemed like she was enjoying herself at least. He knew she liked dancing- they used to dance around all the time before this year. In fact, what with the craziness of senior year, they hadn't really just dropped everything they were doing, turned up the music, and just _danced_ in a really long time and he kind of missed that. He just had to hope she would be just as pleased with his next proposition.

As the song wound down slowly and he dipped her down low so that her loose hair grazed the ground, he kept her there, even when she made a slight movement as if ready to get up again. Her chest was rising and falling more dramatically than usual and he tried to tear his eyes away from it, choosing instead to lock eyes with her. He leaned in hesitantly, brushing his lips to her ear before whispering. "Will you go to prom with me?"

He watched as her breath hitched and as she broke out into the most beautiful smile he had probably seen in his entire life because the ends of her lips had practically curled up to her ears and he swore he could see every single one of her teeth, she was smiling _that_ big. Which means he did the right thing. Which means he didn't screw up. His heart was already swelling with some sort of deluded pride for himself but at the same time, he couldn't stop staring at her because her smile was making him just as happy. No, infinitely more so.

"Of course I will," she squeaked happily as he pulled her back up and she flung her arms around his neck, lifting her feet off the ground. He caught her legs and spun her around in a quick circle before collapsing onto his bed with her on his lap, her body pressed close enough to his that he could feel her breathing. She was pressing her forehead to his when she whispered, "I was afraid you didn't want to go. With me."

He pretended to look dramatically scandalized, but he was actually a little bit surprised that she had even _bothered_ to think this way. "Of _course_ I want to go with you." He trailed his index finger across her chin and then tilted it up firmly, pressing his lips to hers. "Why would I want to miss something as epic as prom with someone as epic as _you_?"

She jabbed him in the stomach a little because that's what she tended to do whenever he pulled lines like that. He knew she didn't like corny little things, and sometimes he just did it to mess with her a little, but sometimes he genuinely meant it. But he would still get the little jab and a shy smile from Tina. "I don't know. I thought maybe prom wasn't really your thing. Like it was too girly or lame or something."

"But it's _prom_, _everyone_ goes. It's a tradition," he emphasized. "Plus, it's like five hours with _you_. Why would I ever say no to that?"

She did the jabbing thing again but she was flushed so pink that he knew she was enjoying this. "I'm glad you asked me," she said softly, curling her legs around his torso and leaning in, her eyelashes fluttering the way they usually did when she was being shyer than usual.

"I'm glad you said yes," he replied simply, kissing her gently.

"How could I say no to an invitation like that?" She grinned, pecking him on the cheek.

"Hey! Are you making fun of me?"

"Maybe..." She said coyly, grinning before rubbing his shoulder reassuringly. "Of course not, Mike. I thought it was very, very sweet."

"Really?" Because he was still kind of worried that she had expected something a little grander or a little flashier or a little... less lame.

She didn't answer him, choosing instead to reattach her lips to his, her hands quick to cling onto his hair. She tasted like the coffee that they had gotten in his kitchen when they had first arrived, and it was sweet and sharp and _good_. He kind of lost track of why they were even in his bedroom to begin with because she was already pushing him down onto the bed so that he was lying down, his legs still hooked over the bed and his feet barely touching the ground. Even though Mike had long since gotten used to where her hands roamed, he will never _ever_ get used to the feeling of her touch because every grazing touch she provided him simply stunned him even more up to the point when he couldn't really think straight anymore. He raked his fingers down her sides, feeling for the zipper on her dress because the way the skirt was pooling at his lap was completely killing him and all he wanted to do was get her out of it because her dresses had a knack for teasing him out of his mind. He had barely unzipped it when she hastily yanked it off herself and her own eagerness to get out of her clothes only made him want her more. As if that was even _possible_...

"I'm excited for prom," she whispered breathlessly in his ear, the warm air tickling him and making him shiver. He groaned a little when she nipped at his ear, her lips dragging down the lobe and her tongue gliding over it gently.

"Mmf, me too," he murmured, although that was seriously the last thing on his mind because she wasn't even wearing her _dress_ anymore and it was really, _really_ hard to tear his eyes away from her body. How could he have even been thinking about prom? But then...

"But I'm even more excited for, you know... after..."

And that must have been it for him right then and there because he was pretty sure that his heart had stopped beating at that point.

* * *

**A/N: What did you guys think about this chapter? :) Let me know!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Prom? Prom. :) A couple of notes- This isn't canon with Season 2 or anything. Kurt is _back_ at McKinley, however (And he's bringing Blaine!)  
**

**

* * *

**The thing about Asian parents is they liked to take pictures like its their _job_ and there was something to be said about how much _worse_ it would be during prom. Tina was seriously dreading the moment she walked down the staircase and her parents would just pounce on her with their Nikon ready. They were all at Rachel's house getting ready, their dresses hanging in her closet and their makeup strewn across every inch of Rachel's bedroom floor. They had started getting ready at four, which Mike had rolled his eyes about because dinner wasn't until seven, but since when did Mike ever get girl logic when it came to this kind of thing?

But thank god for the rest of the girls because Tina's mom had made her promise not to use colorful eyeshadow for prom and she had grudgingly agreed. The problem was, she didn't know the first thing about neutral colors and so Quinn had plopped her down in one of Rachel's swivel chairs and given her a lecture about contouring her brow bone or something ridiculous like that.

"Pop quiz," Quinn said suddenly, handing Tina an eyeshadow quad. "Which color goes under your brow bone?"

Tina stared blankly at her, then at the quad. Then back at Quinn. Meekly, she replied, "The darkest one?"

Quinn sighed as if reprimanding a kindergartner, "_Tina_. The lightest color. It's a highlight. Do you want me to just do it for you?"

"Yes please," she said weakly, tugging at the ends of her hair, which was another issue in itself. She and her mom had gotten into a half hour fight the other day about Tina's blue streaks. She could give up the eyeshadow but there was no _way_ she was giving up the blue in her hair. She had picked her dress to match the streaks and she wasn't about to dye her entire head black just to give her mom a Kodak-worthy picture.

Quinn knelt down in front of her and began brushing the colors on her eyelids. "You really have to learn how to do this, Tina."

"But it's so much easier this way."

Rolling her eyes, Quinn turned to Mercedes. "She's your best friend. You _have_ to teach her someday."

"Don't look at me, girl," Mercedes held up her hands. "_Believe_ me. I've tried during multiple sleepovers."

"Last time we had a sleepover, we hid all of her colored eyeshadows and she threw a fit," Kurt piped up, grinning.

"Okay, fine. Just talk about me like I'm not even here," Tina huffed.

Rachel, always the leader, clapped her hands twice and announced, "It's officially five forty-five, guys. We're supposed to leave for dinner at six forty-five and _all_ of our parents are downstairs waiting to take pictures."

"Are the guys even here yet?" Quinn asked softly as she finished up Tina's makeup. "Done," she added, wheeling Tina around so she could see her reflection in Rachel's vanity.

It looked..._weird_. Well, it looked pretty great for a makeup job, probably because Quinn is a master when it came to this kind of thing and it still kind of surprised Tina that Quinn even wanted to _be_ here with them, preparing for prom. Brittany and Santana were there, too- their situation was just a complete mess in Tina's mind. Because even though Brittany and Artie had broken up because she had feelings for Santana, the two of them still weren't ready to go public or anything, and prom was the epitome of public. So Santana was going with Puck and Brittany was going with Tim, a football player that Tina didn't know all that well. But her own reflection looked foreign to her, and it made her a little bit squeamish to see a complete lack of color on her lids.

And before anyone had a chance to answer Quinn, they heard the doorbell ring from downstairs and Rachel squealed, "We don't even have our dresses on yet!"

There was a mad scramble to Rachel's closet as each of them grabbed their dresses from their hangers. Tina had picked out her dress three days after Mike had asked her to prom (which was something she consistently thought about- at this point, she had probably daydreamed about it four or five times and it still got to her each time she played it back in her head). It was strapless, long and midnight blue, and cinched at the waist. She had contemplated over a simple black dress for quite a while until her mom dragged her away from it, muttering that she would look like she belonged at a funeral if she wore such a dress. So Tina had settled for the blue and picked a pair of black stilettos to go with it. She shed her sweats, feeling a little bit self-conscious as she pulled the dress up her body.

"Zip me up?" She asked Quinn as she pulled her freshly curled hair away from the zipper. "You look great," she added.

Quinn's dress was _incredible_. It was white and gold and pleated softly at the hem and it suited her _perfectly_. "Thanks," she replied as she zipped Tina's dress up and patted her back. "You look amazing, Tina. Mike's gonna eat his poor heart out."

It kind of surprised her how nice Quinn could be- lately, she had been more friendly toward the non-ex-Cheerios, probably because at this point during the year, the Cheerios were usually completely overrun by competitions and without the Cheerios, Quinn didn't really have anywhere to turn but the glee club. Not that Tina minded- Nice Quinn was infinitely better than Manipulative Quinn.

Tina blushed but barely had time to think about whether or not that would be true because all the girls (and Kurt) were already thundering down the stairs to meet the guys. Shaking her head, she followed suit, holding up her dress hem because she just _knew_ that she'd trip otherwise.

There were a lot of things going on in Tina's mind as she descended the stairs. The guys were all waiting in the foyer, each of them looking more awkward and out of place than the next and her eyes scanned over the sea of black tuxedos before they finally landed on Mike, who was standing at the very end with a white box pinned under his arm. She knew that most of the time, prom was a time when the guy would drop his jaw over how gorgeous the girl looked, but she doubted he would feel that way and besides, she needed time to get over how amazing _he_ looked.

Because god, he looked sexy in a tux. Mike's always been skinny, and the tuxedo looked as though it was perfectly tailored for his long, lean frame. It rolled over his shoulders nicely and she couldn't help but notice the way the pants fit over his butt. Tina kind of had a thing for Mike in dressy clothes, and this was like a whole new level of formal sexiness. He hadn't noticed her yet, as he was chatting with her parents, who were standing on either side of him in a rather threatening arrangement. Poor Mike.

There were several excited compliments from the guys as the girls got to the foot of the stairs, and she had to admit, it was pretty damn adorable when Blaine threw his arms around Kurt and started gushing about how great he looked. But Tina really only had eyes for Mike, who had finally noticed her and whose eyes had completely glazed over.

She was actually starting to get kind of concerned when she shyly approached him and he still had not said a word. She jerked her head pointedly toward her parents and they took the hint and hurried out of sight- probably to the kitchen where some of the other parents were. "Mike...?" She asked hesitantly as he continued to stare.

"You- you know those cartoons when the character's eyes bug out of their sockets?"

"Umm...yeah?"

"That's how I feel right now, T," he said softly, kissing her temple and hugging her to his chest. "You look _gorgeous_. Like insanely gorgeous." He was running his fingers through her curls and she totally didn't even care if it messed up her hair because the look he was giving her right now was worth so much more. "You are beautiful, T. Did you know that?"

"_You_ look sexy."

He scoffed, "I've got nothing on you."

"Not true." She leaned into his ear and whispered, "You look sexy enough for me to want to rip off that tuxedo right now and do certain things to you that would be very, _very_ inappropriate in our current company."

Satisfied at how wide his eyes had gotten and how much his jaw dropped, Tina squeezed his hand and turned on her heel when Finn's mom called out, "_Picture time!"_

Never before had Tina felt more deer-in-the-headlights than now, when all the parents had corralled them onto the big staircase and started snapping pictures of the group. It was all very cliche and she kind of felt herself going blind what with all the flashing lights, but her heart swelled a little when Mike wrapped his arms around her waist and plastered on a silly grin while the parents snapped pictures. What the cameras _couldn't_ see was that Mike was trailing his fingers over her dress down her inner thigh and it was driving her absolutely crazy- she couldn't stop shivering.

"I feel like I'm at the Oscars," Rachel proclaimed excitedly as the flashing continued and everyone offered a grunt in response because only Rachel would enjoy a moment like this.

When the parents _finally_ finished and the group branched off for couple posing, Tina whipped around to face Mike. "_Tease_."

"You love it. Preview for later tonight?"

And she could feel the goosebumps forming. Because each of them had their own cover story for their plans for tonight- Tina had told her parents that she was going to Rachel's for the night and Mike had told _his _parents that he was heading to Finn's. It had actually taken quite a bit of convincing because their parents were extremely suspicious about what could go down at prom- in fact, her dad gave her a half hour lecture about the dangers of alcohol and how likely it would be that someone would bring it to prom. And after their cover stories had been set, Mike had immediately booked a room in the Days Inn, one of the only hotels in Lima. It seemed kind of textbook-prom to her, but who was she to complain because she would be getting a whole night of privacy with Mike and that was all she cared about.

Each of them had pitched in about fifty dollars to pay for the huge limo that was pulling up in front of Rachel's driveway. It had taken quite a bit of convincing on Tina's part, but her parents finally conceded and even though Tina was always a little bit wary of prom traditions, she couldn't help but feel excited as they piled into the limo and Tina was practically sitting on Mike's lap they were so squished in there. And even though the trip to Breadstix was quick, she couldn't help but feel her adrenaline rushing the entire way.

Breadstix was filled with McKinley students all dressed up for prom, and it didn't surprise her one bit when they passed by one of the jock tables and every single one of the football players sneered at them as they walked by. It did, however, surprise her a little when one of them threw an ice cube at her back, the cold piercing her bare skin. With a yelp, she whipped around to find Azimio cracking up and high-fiving Karofsky. She _hated_ it when she got singled out like this, no matter if it was a slushy or a voiced insult. And she always felt like taking a swing at one of them but she knew that any of the football guys could crush her in a second. As her rage began to boil over, she was only semi-aware when Mike pushed past her toward the table, steam practically coming out of his ears.

"_Azimio_. What the _hell_ was that? You think you can just _throw_ things at my girlfriend?" The restaurant had gotten kind of quiet and the rest of their group was watching with wide eyes.

"_Actually_, I think I _can_. And I don't need no loser boyfriend telling me what I can and can't do," Azimio snapped back, standing up while his teammates looked on.

"Don't ever touch my girlfriend again," Mike's voice was lower and more dangerous than Tina had ever heard in her entire life.

She tugged gently at his jacket sleeve, "_Mike_. It's okay... forget it..."

But Mike was busy staring daggers at Azimio and mostly because his head is hollow to come up with a snappy retort, Azimio snorted and sat back down. "I don't need any shit from any losers tonight anyway."

As she and Mike sat down at their table far away from the jocks, Tina noticed that Mike was shaking. Their tables were set up so that they were all close to one another but each table only sat two people so that the couples could sit together. She reached over to wrap her hands around his. "_Mike_. Don't pay attention to them."

"They're ruining prom," he muttered as he cast a dark look over at the jocks, who were snickering into their food and pointing.

"No, they're not," she soothed, even though she was touched that he cared this much. "You get used to it, okay? It's not even a big deal anymore. It's just like being slushied. It gets old after a while."

"I want to rip off their heads."

Mike was positively fuming. There really was no other way to describe it, she concluded as they ordered their food and began eating. He looked ready to murder someone, and even when she trailed her foot up his leg, he only offered her a pained half-smile. She knew that even though he had gotten used to the slushies, he still got very, _very_ testy when the jocks started verbally abusing any of the glee kids, and this had to be some sort of ultimatum because Mike looked _furious_. And kind of sexy with his brow all wrinkled like that.

"_Mike_," she said softly, putting down her fork. "Don't let them get to you, okay? I'm perfectly fine. This is our _prom_. Don't you want it to be perfect?"

"It isn't anymore," he grumbled. "I wouldn't say ice cube-throwing counts as perfect."

"_Hey_. It's over, okay?"

He looked up at her from his plate and gave her one of the saddest looks she'd ever seen and it totally broke her heart. "Okay," he said softly, gripping her hand tightly.

And Tina thought he really did try his hardest to forget about it. He got up at one point, completely disappearing- probably to go to the bathroom- and he was gone for quite a while and she couldn't help but think that he was trying to pace away the frustration he was feeling. But he came back with a satisfied smile on his lips, so she figured he would be okay. Especially through dinner, when he offered her a corsage and allowed her to attach the matching boutonniere that she had purchased a day ago.

"You're awful at this," he teased as she tried to stab the pin through his tux jacket, her tongue sticking out in determination. "Don't impale me, okay T?"

"Keep teasing and I might just have to," she shot back with a grin, glad he was cooling down a little. When she finally managed to attach the boutonniere, he slid the corsage over her wrist with a big smile, obviously getting a kick out of the tradition. Because even though she was an anti-tradition kind of girl, she knew he _loved_ them. And though he was doing a good job with keeping the sappy traditions to a minimum, she also knew that he was practically giddy each time one of them went through.

The bill came and she immediately pulled her clutch out of her purse before Mike had any time to react. But he was giving her a look that vaguely resembled a cat that had just swallowed a canary whole and her suspicion immediately arose.

"What?"

"Don't bother," he shrugged.

"What do you mean? I'm paying for my share."

"I already paid for all of it."

"_Mike_!" So _that's_ what he was doing when he disappeared earlier. She didn't know whether to throw something at him or be impressed by the extent of his efforts. Probably both.

Mike smiled and took both of her hands in his. "Just give me this one thing, okay? You didn't let me pay for your ticket or the limo or _anything_ and I _know_ all about your righteous blade of equality," he winked playfully, "but just give me this _one _thing, T. I promised I'd give you the best prom experience ever, okay? This is just one small effort to do so." He lifted one of her hands up to his lips and kissed it gently. His lips felt soft and inviting on her skin.

"You drive me _crazy_," she sighed, but she knew that the tone of her voice had already admitted defeat and he knew it, too, because his grin was suddenly growing wider and wider until the point where he actually just looked like a giddy little boy. "You are _so_ smug."

"I love you."

The thing with Mike was that he didn't really say those three words all that often. Maybe that would bother some girls, but she totally loved it because whenever he _did _say it, it was sudden and genuine and _real_ and it just reminded her of how much he always meant it. He was staring at her with the same intensity that he always did- the same intensity he always had whenever he was with her for the past two years. Because Mike was a passionate kind of guy and even though it may seem weird that he stared at her like that to some people, she adored it because he was so cute when he did it.

"I love you, too."

They took the limo to the community college student center, which was like a big ballroom where the prom was held every year. Tina watched out the window as they drove up to the student center, her hand laced tightly in Mike's. Students were pouring out of their limos and cars and into the building, each of them dressed more beautifully than the next and Tina could feel her stomach beginning to churn as their group filed out of the limo as well. Was it weird that she was nervous to dance at prom when she danced every single day during glee rehearsal?

The student center was exploding with balloons and shimmery lights and so many other colorful decorations that practically blinded her. It was weird- the prom theme for this year was "_Taste the Rainbow_", which the very odd student council had voted for a couple months ago. There were just colors _everywhere_ and an extreme surplus of Skittles (which she didn't really mind, she liked Skittles). As they stepped into the building, they were bombarded with a couple of staff volunteers who were taking pictures.

"Over here, over here," an eager-looking teacher, who Tina recognized to be one of the ninth grade English teachers, led them over to the portrait background, where people were lined up to get their couples pictures taken.

She looked up at Mike, who shrugged with a smile and dragged her over so that they were standing in front of the backdrop. He stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and locking his hands with hers in front of her stomach.

"Say 'cheese'!" The teacher exclaimed cheerfully as she snapped the picture and beamed. "Looks great, guys. Come back at the end to order prints, okay?"

"Thanks, Mrs. Ellison," Mike said graciously as he took Tina's hand again and pulled her down the hallway toward the ballroom.

It astounded her sometimes the way Mike could remember people. Just like _all_ people and it was so weird because she had a hard time remembering her _classmates_ in this year's classes, let alone some freshmen teacher she barely recognized. But that really wasn't the main issue on her mind right now, she decided as they entered the room and she couldn't help but be impressed by the elaborate decorations. The room was dim but there were little lights _everywhere_ and it gave the room an ethereal glow that made the entire room just seem like a dream. The little tables along the sides were covered in elegant tablecloths and decorated with a small candle that was covered with a colored cap so that each candle glowed a different color. The DJ was playing an upbeat, cheerful song and there were already people on the dance floor swaying to the music.

"You love it," he observed excitedly as she continued to gaze around the room. "You're secretly a sucker for this kind of thing," he teased.

"It _is _beautiful," she admitted softly. "But I wouldn't call myself a sucker for prom. Hey," she said suddenly, turning to face him. For a moment, though, she completely forgot what she was about to say because Mike was currently in the process of rendering her speechless or _something_ because words were not escaping her mouth. Because maybe it was the way he was just _standing _there or maybe it was the music that was playing or maybe it was just the fact that they were finally seniors and she was at prom with _Mike Chang_, who had for some very strange reason fallen in love with her two years ago and they were suddenly _here_ and possibly going to _college_ together next year and she just couldn't even think straight because of all of it.

"Hey what?" He smiled sweetly, rubbing his fingers over her palms endearingly.

"Thanks for asking me to prom."

"Like I would ask _anyone_ else."

"Thanks for _bringing_ me to prom," she corrected.

"No problem, love." He swooped down to kiss her and she was so overtaken by the kiss that her hands were suddenly running along his neck and their lips were still locked before...

"Get a room," Puck snapped as he walked by.

They broke apart and Tina giggled as Mike blushed pink. But the DJ suddenly changed the song and it was a slow, sweet one- _I Finally Found Someone_, and Mike instantly perked up and held out his hand. "May I have this dance, Miss Cohen-Chang?"

She giggled and took his hand, "Of course," and offered a little curtsy.

"You look breathtaking," he whispered as he tugged at her hand. "Seriously, T."

"Thanks," she said softly, smiling weakly.

And even if she was nervous to dance at her own prom, Mike definitely wasn't. He confidently led them to the dance floor and took her hand while she set her other arm on his shoulder. As they swayed slowly, their hips matching in rhythm, Tina looked up at him. He was gazing at her intently, a small smile playing on his lips. She wanted to say something. Anything- _I love you_ or _Thank you_ or _You're amazing_ but she couldn't really bring herself to do it. Mostly because the moment seemed kind of frozen in time and after a certain point, she couldn't even hear the music anymore and she hoped she was still dancing in rhythm. It was just Mike. Just him because even though she had been so hesitant about all this prom stuff, she realized that everyone loved prom for a _reason_. Everyone loved prom because it framed every couple in a picturesque moment and it allowed the two of them to savor that moment and forget about their futures after high school, forget about their ragged past throughout high school, and just focus on _now_.

And as Mike twirled her around on an axis and then dipped her down slowly, she realized that she didn't regret coming to prom at all- in fact, all those things people always said about prom being "_a night to remember_"? She could totally understand that.

* * *

**A/N: Quite a long chapter in comparison to my others. :) But that was the prom chapter and there's some post-prom goodness coming up. ;) How did you like this chapter?**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Warning: Tike sexiness. ;) A lot... of smut.  
**

**

* * *

**Mike was still trying to get over everything about Tina as the limo dropped them off at the hotel. Because yeah, he had done a pretty good job of playing it cool during prom, if he does say so himself, especially while they were dancing because he had made it his job to make it as sweet and perfect as possible but her _dress_. Her dress was a deep shade of blue and it had no straps- which he wasn't used to seeing at _all_. Most of the dresses she wore on a daily basis, though they had grown on him and he thought they were adorable, had collars that worked right up to her neck, but this one showed every inch of her neck and a delicious amount of her chest that made him feel like he was practically drooling on the dance floor all night long. And the way it hugged every curve of her body was just _mesmerizing_ and he seriously thought he was going to pass out when she first walked down those stairs back at Rachel's house.

The only other couples that were spending the night at the hotel was Rachel and Finn and Sam and Quinn, so when the limo stopped abruptly in front of the hotel, all six of them got an earful of jabs from the rest of the group.

"Wear protection!" Puck called out.

"Don't make any babies!" Santana grinned toothily.

Mike rolled his eyes as he restrained himself from helping Tina out of the car (because he knew he'd get a smack upside his head if he did so). As they waved their goodbyes, he felt Tina slip her hand into his as she sidled up beside him.

"I had a great time," she whispered as she and Mike lagged behind a little- the other four were already bolting toward the check-in counter.

"Me, too." Because he _had_. Maybe it wasn't a fairy tale sort of prom, but it was incredible, and if it wasn't for the fact that they were less than fifteen minutes from the inevitable clothes-shedding, he would have wanted to sit there with her and just remember every last moment of it.

"Welcome," the angsty-looking woman behind the counter greeted them with an arched eyebrow as if she totally knew why they were here tonight. "Names?"

As Mike checked them in, Tina stood beside him, running her fingers up and down his arm as if totally anxious. Once the woman had handed Mike the room keys, he thanked her hastily and pulled Tina toward the elevators. She pressed the up button before he could even get to it and she looked up at him, beaming.

"She totally knew."

"Maybe it was because you were stroking my arm."

"You're so hot."

He laughed as the elevator arrived and they hurried in, the door closing before them and she was already leaping onto him, hooking her legs around his torso as he caught them. She placed kisses all up and down his neck as he held her tight to his body and when the elevator landed on the second floor, he struggled to see around her as he was in a _mad_ rush to get to their room. Because even though he wanted to rip off her dress right then and there in the hallway, there was an empty room waiting for them and they were _definitely _going to make full use of it.

They sort of collapsed into the hotel room in a haze of room keys and light switches. Mike didn't really give a damn about what the room looked like- it could have been missing a bathroom and he wouldn't even have noticed. All he could see was Tina, who was several steps ahead of him until she finally reached the bed and turned on her heel to face him. And that frozen moment seemed to last forever- with their eyes just completely locked and their proximity teasing the _hell_ out of him until she practically tackled him. Tina's lips were on his the moment they crashed on the bed, her curls cascading around his face as she practically mounted him, her dress hitching up over his torso. He was used to her dresses doing this, but there was some major sexiness factor about this one, mostly because the material was so much thinner and the dress was so much more revealing that it was practically driving him up the wall. She was doing that thing with her tongue where she dragged it slowly, teasingly across his upper lip and it was sending shivers down his body.

"Nnghh," he managed incoherently as she lined kisses down his neck and before he knew it, she was tearing his jacket off and tugging urgently at his buttoned shirt. He was only vaguely aware of how tightly he was clenching the sheets within his hands as she unbuttoned his shirt in a sort of frenzy. "..._All night_," he whispered breathlessly. "I've wanted to do this with you _all night_."

Tina didn't respond. She seemed immensely preoccupied as she yanked impatiently at his shirt, and she was making quick work of it, really, because in the next two seconds, his shirt had been thrown across the room. Her hands were streaming down his bare torso and he shivered again as she let them linger over his waistline. He could feel himself straining in his tux pants and it did not help in the slightest that her hands were so damn close. She stared at him blankly for a moment and he immediately missed the feel of her lips.

"...T? Is... is everything okay?"

"Shut up," she murmured. "_I need_..."

What she needed was never revealed, however, but he could kind of figure, mostly because she had pinned him down to the bed again and was wrapping her legs around his, her grip on his legs surprisingly strong. He could feel all the blood rapidly leaving his brain and ever extremity he possessed because it was making its way _fast_ to a _different_ part of his body, which was probably becoming quite apparent to Tina because he was pressed right into her thigh and he could feel her smile against his lips. She was grinding into him harder than he had ever felt before, but it felt so insanely good that he could feel his eyes rolling to the back of their sockets.

"Lose the dress." He reached blindly behind her for the zipper to her dress, which turned out to be rather easy to unzip unlike her usual dresses which usually had complicated ties and such that made access difficult. But the zipper went down smoothly and it opened up the entire back, revealing an incredible amount of her skin. She was wearing a strapless bra and he gulped a little as he sat up to unclasp it. His hands were shaking a little from the anticipation but when the torso part of the dress fell, he could feel himself take in a sharp breath. "So...beautiful," he breathed, finally unclasping the bra and letting it fall to the side.

"Shut up," she said again, but she was blushing furiously and he has a feeling this demand came only from slight embarrassment because she always got a little embarrassed whenever he mumbled little things about how incredible she looked. Because she _always _looked incredible and he _always_ wanted to let her know because even though she could get pretty confident in bed, she still got kind of insecure about her looks which Mike knew she had _no _reason for.

Because Tina was _beautiful_. He had known it since day one. Since that very first day he had sat next to her in math class and fallen in love with the freaking _smell_ of her hair. And in fact, the way she was right now, naked and exposed and even a little bit vulnerable, was so _hot_ that he kind of wished she could be like this _all the time_. Although he wasn't willing to share this with other people. Because Mike got pretty protective when it came to Tina- last time Santana had held a pool party and Puck had been staring at Tina and her rhinestone-studded bikini, Mike had whisked Tina away immediately and may or may not have had made out with her in the Lopez's bathroom.

He was probably seeing stars at this point, but that didn't mean he didn't want to continue. He lifted her up a little so that she was on her knees on the bed and he dragged the dress down past her beautiful, beautiful hips as she willingly lifted each leg for him to slide the dress past, tossing it aside altogether once he had finished. And all he could do was stare for a moment because _god_. Tina Cohen-Chang was one _gorgeous_ woman and he couldn't believe his luck because he had somehow ended up with her. There were miles and miles worth of her ivory skin and he was already dragging his tongue across her body because there wasn't one inch of it that he could prevent himself from touching. He wanted very much to be in control at this moment, because she was already moaning beside him and that was the biggest turn-on _ever_ because he knew that he needed to hear more. It may have been a little bit selfish, but he _loved_ that he could make her feel and sound like this.

He dragged her down with him onto the bed and set one knee on either side of her body, very aware that she had nothing except the smallest scrap of underwear he had ever seen in his entire life. "Did you...?"

"-Bought it yesterday," she breathed, reading his mind.

And he had never been so thankful for a couple inches of fabric before because they did an incredible job of arching right along her hips and disappearing in the back, showcasing an ass that he would never, _ever_ grow tired of. He wanted desperately to get a better view of it but he was already a little too preoccupied with the fact that he would _much_ rather rip her panties off altogether. Inspired by the moment, he caught the sides of her panties in his teeth and dragged them down her legs, his teeth scraping the soft skin of her thigh and feeling immensely satisfied as she shivered. Once he had discarded her underwear, he snaked his way back up so that his mouth was in the same plane as her neck and he latched himself onto her pulse point, sucking _hard_ as she whimpered.

She had hooked her hands into his belt loops and was pulling her against him and he was a little worried what his weight might have been doing to her but she seemed so supremely unconcerned that he forgot it for a moment as he felt the warmth of her body against his bare chest. He felt an unbearable need to really _feel _her and without the hindrance of her panties, he has total free reign so he trailed his fingers up her inner thigh and let them linger before sliding one, then two fingers deep inside of her.

And the noise that escaped her lips was the best thing in the entire _world_ because Mike needed to quickly stow it away in his mind before he could continue sliding his fingers in and out, feeling himself get harder and harder (how was that even _possible_?) as he felt how unbelievably _tight_ and wet she was.

"_Mike_..."

And the sound of his name couldn't have sounded more alluring as she whispered it, her hands tangled in his hair as he kissed her jawline reassuringly while he kept his fingers moving.

"Pants. Off." She was mumbling and her head was thrown back, exposing her neck invitingly and he blanketed it with kisses while she pushed him onto his side, his fingers leaving her as she struggled with his belt. But she was quick, and quite impressive at that, yanking down his pants and his boxers all at once, tugging them past his ankles and tossing them aside along with his shoes and socks, her eyes growing satisfyingly wide as she exposed him.

Sometimes, she totally knew what she did to him, because she had sidled back up to eye level with him and, without peeling her eyes away from him, inched her mouth to his _hand_ and took a couple of his fingers into her _mouth_. And not just _any_ fingers. The fingers. That had just been inside of her. _Holy shit_. She was staring at him with these huge, huge eyes as she sucked his fingers and all he could do was watch, totally hypnotized, as she slid her lips up and down his fingers. She had this seductive look behind her lashes and it was driving him _crazy_.

"Oh my _god_." He reached over for his pants because he had slipped a couple of condoms into the pockets before leaving for prom earlier that day and he felt that if he wasn't inside of her _now_ his body would just go through spontaneous combustion and he would be reduced to nothing more than a pile of ashes. But she caught his hand before he could reach them.

"Stop."

He must have looked pretty damn confused because she offered him a coy smile before shimmying down the bed and before he even had a chance to figure out what was going on, she had effectively taken him in her mouth and. Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Never ever in his life had he ever received a blowjob before and he had no idea what gave Tina the idea to do it now but it wasn't as if he cared at _all_ because besides actually _having_ sex with her, she had successfully introduced him to the best sensation in the entire world. She was somehow simultaneously sliding her mouth up and down while using her hands to stroke him and it was just the _best_ combination ever. Her mouth, though, he had no idea how she was so damn good at this but she _was_ and it took all his energy not to moan out loud. But, screw it, he thought as the moan escaped him anyway and his fists clenched the blankets underneath him. Yes. Yes, he had officially died and gone to heaven. Not like he was religious or anything but _this. _This _had_ to be what heaven felt like.

"_Tina_, oh my _god_." To be perfectly honest, if he had died right then and there, he would have been totally okay with it as long as she was with him wherever afterlife took him because he had officially decided in the still functioning part of his brain that he could never, _ever_ leave her, and not just because she had the world's most talented mouth. Sure, he knew that she was one hell of a kisser, but this had to be some sort of uncharted new level because _god_.

He wasn't even aware of the fact that he was biting his lip _hard_ until he could sort of taste a drop of blood and he released his teeth from his lips immediately, but not before emitting another guttural groan.

"Get it."

Mike had no idea what she was talking about at first because he was totally absorbed in her mouth, tongue, and hands, but he realized suddenly that she was referring to the condoms that were nestled in his pants' pocket. Reluctantly pulling himself out of her mouth, he reached for a condom and tore open the crinkly package as fast as humanly possible.

"Give," she instructed, her voice cracking a little as he handed her the condom and she rolled it over him quickly. He loved, loved, _loved _Demanding Tina mostly because it was mind-blowingly sexy, no matter how embarrassing it was that he liked being the submissive one, the way she could just reduce him to nothing but a quivering mess of a man when she tossed her gorgeous hair over her shoulder and rode him with purpose. Because that was what she appeared to be doing now- she flipped him onto his back in one swift motion and got on her knees over him, giving him an _amazing_ view of her body as she used her hands to guide him inside of her.

And the _look_ on her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was throwing back her head in pleasure and he _knew_ he should have waited for her to ease herself onto him before thrusting but he can't freaking help himself so he was already pushing his hips upward toward the ceiling and he was rewarded with a long, sexy moan.

He _needed_ to be on top. No matter how sexy and confident she was being, he _needed _to feel her underneath him and hear her say his name. He was all ready to turn her over when his eyes glanced down at her feet. She was still. Wearing. Her heels. And his mind had effectively gone _blank_ by this point because not only was he deep inside her, but she was one hundred percent naked...except for the sexiest pair of stilettos he had ever seen in his whole life.

"You are so... sexy," he murmured in a strangled voice as she continued to slide up and down. "..._Mine_."

And he knew she was an independent woman who needed to distinguish herself as her own person, but there was something instinctively feral inside of him that wanted to mark her as _his_ forever as he pushed her off of him so that she was on her back. He hovered over her for a moment, kissing from the valley of her breasts down to her belly button.

"Mike... _please_." And he was having an extremely difficult time getting over the sound of her begging before she continued. "I need..."

"What do you need?" He breathed into her ear before he nuzzled her neck gently. "Tell me what you need, baby."

"I need _you_. _Please_."

But it wasn't like he needed to be told twice or anything, because he was already delving himself deep within her and he watched, mesmerized, as her hips arched upward and he will never, _ever_ get tired of the feeling he got when he was buried inside of her.

"_Go_."

"What?"

"_Fuck_," she hissed, and he had never really heard her say that before but it was unbelievably hot coming from her and he was still trying to get over it when she whispered. "_Move_."

Jolting a little, he got onto his knees in between her wide open legs and hooked his arms around her legs, pulling her to him and slid back inside of her once more, beginning to pump slowly. He had the world's most perfect view of her right now, everything from her shaking hands that were clutching onto the pillows behind her to the gentle slope of her breasts to her beautiful, beautiful face.

And even though the sex-after-prom thing got pretty cliché sometimes, Mike couldn't really have cared less at this point because _damn_ it felt good and each time she released his name from her lips, he could just feel his entire body practically spasm with pleasure. And yeah, _this_ was probably an ego thing as well, but he liked to be reminded that he was doing this to her just like she liked to be in control in order to know that _she_ did those things to _him_. Sometimes it was difficult because they were both so damn stubborn. And usually, he could relent and let her take control but not _in bed_.

He may have seriously lost sight at this point because everything was so hazy and uncertain what with Tina thrashing underneath him and spurting out nonsensical streams of words, he knew he was close and _god_ he was sweating a _lot_. As he continued to slide himself in and out, wanting so badly to just _shout_ because she felt so unbelievably tight and good and just...

"_Tina_."

Mike seriously felt like if he didn't come soon, he would literally just keel over, fall off the bed, and just be left to die and she was mumbling "_now_" over and over again and he knew that they were both so totally spent and as he felt his release and _watched_ hers- her back was arching high and her sweat-coated face was just marked with pleasure and everything about this moment was just so, _so_ perfect- he collapsed, practically on top of her as they both finish in a frenzy and _shit_ she blew his mind.

Tina's breathing was heavy and uneven as they both flipped onto their backs next to each other. He turned onto his side and wrapped his arms around her, their hot, sticky skin pressed together and he buried his face into her hair as she nestled herself into the crevice his legs and torso were making.

"I love you," he murmured. He stoked her hair gently as her breaths evened out a little and he could feel her growing limp in his arms. He seriously felt like he could hold her like this forever and he knew his sappy side was getting to him but how could he help it? He was all ready to fall asleep like this next to her, their naked bodies touching, until she opened her mouth and said something that made his mind feel like it was ready to blow up.

"We can do that again tomorrow morning, right?"

* * *

**A/N: Okay yeah that was just pure smut but I did get a couple of requests to do an after-prom sexy!Tike chapter so here it is! What did you think? :)**


	16. Chapter 16

It was difficult for Tina to wrap her mind around the fact that they had _finally_ won their regional competition this year. It was a week after prom and they had finally won for the first time _ever_. It had seemed like the world's longest journey and now that they had finally made their way to nationals, it was like all the club ever did was live and breathe music and dance. Not that Tina minded. There really was something to be said about senioritis, she noticed, as she felt less and less inclined to do school work and instead chose to spend countless hours burrowed in her room, running through her small solo that she was supposed to be singing for nationals in less than three weeks. It was ridiculous to her that there was so little time in between regionals and nationals, but she was actually quite relieved that neither she nor Mike had a huge solo, because last time she checked, Rachel was seriously flipping out and Tina was just glad she wasn't in that situation.

Actually, the main issue on both of their minds wasn't even nationals. It was _New York_, where they were both likely to attend college in less than six months, which still kind of blew her mind a little. Unless he ended up out in California, they would be going to college in the same _state_. Possibly even the same _city_. And if he ended up at NYU and she got into Tisch, they could literally be at the same _school_. Because if the last couple of weeks (what with prom and everything) had taught her _anything_, it was that she wasn't ready to give up Mike Chang. And she didn't know if she'd _ever_ be ready for something like that.

They were in her living room, running through the dance steps of one of the songs that Rachel and Finn were singing for nationals. She was getting breathless because he was making her run the same series of moves over and over again.

"You're so enjoying this," she managed in between huffs, stepping one foot over the other and then spinning on her heel. "Damn your dancing talent."

He laughed, "I'm not _enjoying_ your struggle or anything, I-"

"Oh, so now I'm struggling?" She teased, stopping mid-spin and jabbing him in his stomach, which would have been much more effective if it wasn't for his rock-hard abs. _Ow_.

"_What_? No, I-"

"I'm kidding, Mike. Teach me the next run?"

With a smile, he started to show her the next series of complicated steps when her dad walked in, his brow furrowed and his expression stony and serious.

"Hi da- what's wrong?" Tina stopped the music on the stereo and turned to face her father, whose expression was unreadable. Mike had shoved his hands in his pockets, but extracted one quickly to shake her father's hand.

"Michael," her dad nodded in acknowledgment. Mike retracted his hand awkwardly when her dad completely ignored his motion for a handshake. _Whoa_, pulling out the full name, too. "Tina, your mother and I want to talk to the two of you in the kitchen."

"Are we in trouble?" Tina couldn't help but blurt out as they followed him into the dining room, where her mom was sitting, her small hands folded neatly on the table. Tina sat down across from her and Mike took the seat to her left, his face growing paler and paler by the second.

"Not quite," he said tersely. She cast Mike a panicked look but it was probably nothing compared to his- Mike's eyes were wider than saucers and it looked like he was ready to bolt out of the house.

"Then what?"

"_College_, Tina," her mom emphasized. "Your father and I are very well aware now that you and Mike both applied to New York schools."

It actually didn't surprise Tina all that much that this was what her parents were all worried about. Most parents gave their kids a sex talk at some point in high school. She, on the other hand, had supremely Asian parents that were so naive that they weren't even concerned about sex (and thank god, too, because she wasn't sure if she could lie to her mother's face in saying that she hadn't ever done it before). Instead, they were obsessed about her _future_ and _college_. Mike had told her before that his parents were exactly the same.

"How do you know that?" Tina arched an eyebrow.

"We talked to Mike's parents. Tina," her mom hesitated for a moment before continuing, running her fingers through her hair anxiously. "You two are still children," she reasoned. "And none of us want you to make any... mistakes."

"Mike and I have already talked about this, mom."

"That doesn't mean you're going to make the right decision," her dad snapped. She knew her dad got really touchy about college, especially because he had gone to the best school in Korea with a full scholarship- she had heard story after story about his determination in grade school in order to get to college because his parents had no money and wouldn't have been able to pay for college. And as much as she respected her dad to the ends of the earth, she also couldn't quite identify with him. From the moment she had confronted him about wanting to pursue music and entertainment back in ninth grade, she could tell that he was feeling his world crumble down around him. She _knew_ he wanted her to go into research or law or something "respectable" and it had taken many, _many_ nights of persuasion to get him to see eye-to-eye with her. When he finally gave her the okay to apply to Tisch, she kind of had a feeling the battle wasn't quite over yet.

"_Dad_. Mike and I might not even end up going to the same school. There's just some overlap, okay?" Tina shot her mom a pleading look, but all she did was shrug in response.

"That's not my concern, Tina. My concern is that when you get your acceptance letters, you will make your final decision based on where _Michael_ is going."

Tina opened her mouth to speak, but Mike beat her to it. "Mr. Cohen-Chang, I completely understand your concern." His voice was soft and soothing, the kind of voice he used whenever she was getting particularly worked up over something.

Her dad's eyes grew narrow. "Do you understand that I'd advise against you two continuing your relationship past high school?"

"_Dad_! I don't think that's really your decision to make!" Tina snapped, growing impatient. She could feel her throat tightening immediately. Because she _knew_. When her dad meant business, there was little that could sway him- that was what made him such a good businessman. And if he was dead serious about making her and Mike break up... that could very well mean the end of their relationship.

"I think it _is_ because if I don't, you two will make foolish decisions when you're really supposed to be focusing on your futures! You've already picked a rocky career, Tina- musicals and Broadway or whatever. I don't want you to lose sight of your goals because that could be very, very dangerous to your future."

"Are you saying that my goals are _foolish_?" Tina spluttered, barely noticing when Mike placed his right hand on her left knee in attempt to quell her. "I thought you finally agreed to support me no matter what I chose to do with my future!"

"We still support you, honey," her mom soothed. "We just want you to be careful. You don't need any distractions."

"Mike isn't a _distraction_."

"Of course he is," her dad shot back. "You two are always together, and I can't help but wonder if you could have done better in school without him!"

She saw Mike wince a little at this, probably because she and Mike had had this conversation back during their junior year- he had tried to convince her to stop texting him the week before finals because he knew that she needed to study _hard_ for her chemistry exam. Well, she had still scraped an A- on it, anyway, so _whatever_.

"_No_. In fact, Mike helps me all the time! He's helped me edit essays, study for tests, and he's spent lots of time helping me with homework."

"Your future is not the same thing as some schoolwork," he said testily. "Having a boyfriend throughout college is _definitely_ a distraction. Besides," he frowned. "Your mother and I didn't start dating until _after_ college."

"That's because you're both so _Asian_," Tina narrowed her eyes. "Things are different now."

"I'm so tired of hearing that," her dad sighed. "How different could things possibly be? Your mom and I were in college less than thirty years ago."

Mike cut in softly, "Things _are_ pretty different, Mr. Cohen-Chang. My parents grew up together in the same town in China and they said that if they had been allowed to date before college, they would have. I think it's just a matter of what's socially acceptable during different time periods."

"Different time periods?" He repeated. "Are you saying that my wife and I are from a different _era_?" Tina groaned internally. Her dad was _so _enjoying making Mike feel uncomfortable.

Mike turned a little pink, "No, not at all! I just- I just meant that-"

"-I know what you meant. Fine. Things are 'different' now. But so is Tina." He turned to her. "Tina, you have a very different dream than I did when I was your age. All I wanted to do when I was going into college was to get a respectable education and find a job so I could support a family in the future. But your dream, like I said before, is _dangerous_. Show business is fickle, and _any_ distractions could ruin your chances for good."

"_Dad_! How many times do I have to say that Mike isn't a distraction? And besides, Broadway is too important to me to just forget about it. No amount of distractions could tear it away from me."

Her dad turned toward Mike after giving her a long, calculated gaze. "And you, Michael? What are _your_ plans for your future?" And Tina was glad that Mike was too pragmatic to have a silly, far-fetched goal, because when he responded, she knew it was a satisfactory answer to her insanely Asian parents.

"I want to study business, sir. At NYU. And hopefully run my father's company when the time comes."

She watched her dad's lips purse at the mention of the Changs' family business, but she could also tell that business was an acceptable answer in her father's book, so Mike was pretty much home safe. For now.

"Look," Mike hesitated, leaning forward a little. "Mr. Cohen-Chang, I care about Tina a lot. And I can't promise that she'll want to be with me forever, but I can promise that I would never, _ever_ get in the way of her future. If she was up for a Broadway musical and had no way to get to her audition, I would drive her there-"

"-No you wouldn't," her dad interrupted. "No one drives in New York City. You would find her a taxi."

Mike blushed a little. "Right. I would find her a taxi. If she had to make a decision between playing a lead role or _me_, I would never let her choose me. I know what Tina's dreams are, and even if she can be pretty stubborn sometimes, I would never let her forget them."

It was Tina's turn to blush. Because she was _totally_ blushing- everything that Mike had said only made her want to be with him _more_. Because she had known from the very beginning that if anything, Mike was a _nice_ guy. An incredibly thoughtful guy that would never put his own needs before others, but this hit much closer to home than anything else he's ever done for anyone in glee club- like when he spent an entire rehearsal with Kurt, planning out their outfits for regionals even though he knew squat about fashion but no one else had wanted to get involved with it, or when he took Mercedes out for coffee after she had flunked her English test, which was usually Tina's job, but she had had a piano lesson that afternoon. Because Mike wasn't just a _nice _guy. He wasn't just the quiet kid on the football team, or the smart kid in her math class, or the good dancer in glee club. He was the _best_. "Dad, Mike's not an idiot, okay? And neither am I."

"I never said you were an idiot, Tina." He cast Mike a suspicious look. "I've grown to respect you, Michael," he paused for a moment, glancing quickly at his wife, who gave him a quick nod. And if there was one thing that Tina would always envy about her parents' marriage, it would be their innate ability to communicate without words. It was ridiculous to her the way her strict, uptight parents still showed slivers of romance at times that made her almost want to admire them. "And I know you treat Tina well. I haven't seen her this happy for a long time. But you two are still _children_. I'm hesitant to let you make these types of decisions on your own."

"You've always said that I'm mature for my age, dad," Tina mentioned offhandedly with a shrug. She remembered back when she was in fourth grade and had refused to go to Chuck E. Cheese's with the rest of her friends because she felt like she was too old for it. It was the kind of thing she _did_. She didn't like to get involved with silly trends or anything like that- she was composed and well-behaved, and, as her father had said- mature.

Her dad finally managed to crack a smile. "I know you are, Tina."

"And I'm almost a legal _adult_ now. I turn eighteen in less than a _month_. You have to get used to the fact that I'm making more and more decisions for myself and of _course_ I'm going to make mistakes sometimes, but that doesn't mean I can't learn from them." Words were, at this point, just spewing from her mouth and she could feel herself tensing up. There was a lot on the line here- and if she had gotten anything out of her relationship with Mike, it was that it was too valuable to give up.

"I know," he sighed. "I know you're growing up. Your mom and I have a hard time believing it sometimes."

"You're a good guy, Mike," her mom piped up. "And what has it been- two years since you've started dating Tina? We're just worried parents."

Tina saw Mike's shoulders relax a little at these words. "Thank you, Mrs. Cohen-Chang."

"You're welcome, dear." Her mom gave him a slightly affectionate smile, which surprised both Tina and Mike. As Tina exhaled in relief, her father snapped his eyes back to her.

"This doesn't mean you're off the hook," her dad said warningly, wagging his finger at both of them. "I'm not going to force you two to do anything now, but if I see your grades drop in college, Tina..."

Tina's airway cleared immediately. Whenever her dad gave her a last-minute threat, it usually meant that she really _was_ off the hook. "My grades will be fine, dad. Trust me."

The table was awkwardly quiet for a moment as her parents exchanged meaningful looks and Tina glanced at Mike with a sigh. She felt him squeeze her leg gently before he turned back to her parents.

"Thank you- both of you- for trusting me," he said gingerly.

Her dad stood up, jerking his head in a bit of a nod, and Mike followed suit immediately, pushing his chair back and offering his hand out. She watched as her dad stared at Mike's hand as if it had started sprouting fungus or something, but sighed in relief as he shook it firmly. Her mom was smiling faintly as she stood up as well. "Why don't you stay for dinner, Michael? I'll call your parents to let them know."

And Tina was shocked by the big, genuine smile that appeared on Mike's face (especially because _she_ wouldn't have been thrilled to discover that she was eating dinner with her parents...). But it was also very endearing and, as her parents set off in opposite directions- his father to his study room and her mother toward the kitchen- Tina grinned at Mike and tilted her head toward the living room.

"Let's keep practicing."

"Only if you think you can handle it," he teased with a smile.

* * *

**A/N: The story is winding down! There will be a couple more chapters before the end! I hope you guys enjoyed this. What did you all think? :)**


	17. Chapter 17

Mike had never been _anywhere_ in the world except for Ohio and China, and, as their bus pulled in front of their hotel in _New York City_, he and the other glee kids couldn't help but gape out the windows. Because New York was _everything_ that Lima wasn't. It was _alive_ with a sort of frenzy that Lima lacked. And as much as Mike could stay true to his hometown, he couldn't help but feel his opinions about Lima slowly go down the drain. Because Lima was quaint and cute, but New York City _shouted_ millions of things that he had a difficult time soaking in. But all he knew was that he wanted to sit down in the middle of Central Park and attempt to take in everything about the city before it all rushed away from him, because that's what it seemed like to him- total madness consistently on the move.

It was pretty late when they finally arrived, though, and the night was already settling in and the lights lit up the city with a kind of fire he had never seen before. As they checked into their hotel, Mike could just tell that everyone was _flipping_ out with excitement. Rachel was recording a video blog sort of thing with her flip cam and shoving it obnoxiously in each of their faces, demanding that they say something about their trip so far. Finn was attempting to coax the camera away from her and Puck was making goofy faces at it. Mercedes and Kurt had already mapped out every store in the city that they were planning to hit and as Mike took a glance at their list, his eyes glazed over a little. Quinn, Santana, and Brittany were making suggestions to the list, arguing over which store they should prioritize. _Girls_. Mr. Schuester was more excitable than _any_ of them- he had already listed off their room numbers three times, and it was starting to get kind of old.

Actually, ever since Mr. Schuester had mentioned the living arrangements for the weekend, Mike's brain had begun reeling. He was sharing a room with Puck and Finn (both of whom were slightly uncomfortable with the idea of sharing a room with Kurt, so Sam had graciously decided to room with Artie and Kurt instead). Mike had originally meant to room with Kurt because the awkward glances that appeared on Finn's face made him feel kind of bad for Kurt, who had shrugged it off, but Mike knew it wasn't that easy to just ignore. However, when Mr. Schue had passed around a sheet of paper for sign-ups, Finn had immediately written Mike's name under his and Puck's and that was that. He kind of hoped that Kurt didn't think he was being homophobic or anything.

The boys' rooms were on one side of the hallway, and the girls' were on the other. Mr. Schue was in his own room (the lucky bastard) and Mike had already had his whole escape route planned for the middle of the night when they went up to their rooms and Mr. Schue clapped his hands together cheerfully. "Okay guys, I want everyone in bed by eleven, no exceptions. I will check each room at eleven and then," he pulled a roll of masking tape from the backpack he had over his shoulder, "I will tape your door shut."

Puck snorted, "Mr. Schue... You know tape is like, breakable, right?"

"Of course I do. But if I wake up tomorrow morning and your tape is broken, I'll know you sneaked out the night before." He grinned triumphantly while everyone groaned. "Forget it, guys, I'm not going be held responsible for whatever crazy shenanigans you might get into otherwise."

Mike cast Tina an anxious look because they had totally spent the entire bus ride planning their midnight adventure, during which they had planned to rush out to Time Square and maybe grab some ice cream in the middle of the night, and Mr. Schuester was quickly ruining it for the both of them. Tina closed her eyes and shook her head as if she were dismissing his anxiety. He cocked his head confused, but she just squeezed his hand in response.

He would _so_ not be surprised if she had some crazy elaborate plan already cooking in the back of her mind. As everyone trudged into their rooms, casting annoyed looks at Mr. Schue, Mike lingered behind with Tina.

"Hey," she said suddenly. "Let's go get ice for our rooms."

"Why? I- oh." She had shot him a meaningful stare and he quickly understood as she dragged them toward the ice machine, far down the hallway, which was narrow and kind of claustrophobia-inducing, but it opened up at the end to a stairwell and a corner where the ice machine stood.

"Here's the plan," she began quietly, crouching down as if in some action movie.

"We have a plan?"

"_Yes_," she rolled her eyes. "I brought masking tape with me and-"

"You _brought_ masking tape?"

"Yeah, when I was in middle school, we took a trip to D.C. and our teacher pulled the same trick on us. It's called planning ahead," she tapped her temple knowingly.

He laughed, "You, my dear, are a _genius_. Does this mean we can still take our adventure?"

"Tomorrow night," she said firmly, and he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. "_Stop_, don't give me that look! You _know_ we have to get up at six tomorrow!"

"But..."

"No buts."

"But I like your butt," he grinned, giving it a quick squeeze and receiving an adorable yelp in response. "Why do you have to be so responsible?" He whined.

"One of us has to be."

"Who made up _that_ stupid rule?"

* * *

"Okay, so the way it works," Mr. Schue explained anxiously, running his fingers through his curly hair as he spoke to the whole group. "There are around thirty schools here today and it works like a tournament bracket. You go up against another school and the judges pick between the two teams. Assuming we make it to the finals, we will probably be performing four or five times today. One of the judges works on _Broadway_," he said meaningfully and Mike could practically see Rachel and Tina's jaws hit the floor. "So not only do we want to win, but we might also want to impress the judges."

Mike saw Tina's eyes widen as she tapped his arm repeatedly. She was clearly excited, and her cheeks were flushed bright pink. "_Broadway_," she mouthed to him and he nodded and gave her an encouraging smile. He knew how important Broadway was to Tina, and he also knew that he would do everything in his power to boost their performance for the good of the group and for _Tina_, even if it meant just stepping it up a little with his dancing.

They were backstage, getting ready for their first performance, which was against a school from Nevada. Mike could feel the tension just building amongst the group and he couldn't help but feel grateful that he wasn't singing a solo or anything. Dancing was a separate issue- he had a couple of dance solos during most of their numbers, but he usually let his muscles handle dancing naturally on their own. It just wasn't something he could get nervous about. Finn, however, looked as if he was going to be sick.

"Mr. Schue, if I may?" Rachel butted in, turning to face the group. "I just wanted to say that we've- we've come a long way. And no matter what happens..." she choked a little on her words. Typical Rachel and her high-running emotions. "No matter what happens, it's been an incredible journey with you guys and I love you all."

"Ugh, sappy much?" Puck scowled, but Mike knew he was getting just as emotional as the rest of them. Because for all any of them knew, this could be the end of their glee club _lives_. And as rocky as the past three years had been, none of them wanted it to end. Glee club was the start of so many things, so many friendships and beginnings, and most importantly, it was the cornerstone of his relationship with Tina. Glee club meant being special, and, as Rachel had said many times before, it meant being a part of something special, too. It was all too emotional and sad for him, something he had a difficult time grappling with, and he shook away the thoughts quickly before turning back to Tina, who was getting a little misty-eyed herself.

"I like your dress," he whispered as Mr. Schue gave the stage crew directions on lighting and sound. He tweaked the fabric of the siren red dress that she was wearing.

"It's the same dress that everyone else is wearing, Mike."

"It looks the best on you."

She rolled her eyes but he could tell that she was smiling. Nervously, though. He couldn't help but notice that sweat was running down her hairline already, and even though it was pretty hot, he also knew that she rarely got nervous during performances like these.

"You okay, T?"

"I'm- I'm fine. Just nervous, you know. To perform in front of so many people." He thought he saw her glance at Mr. Schue for a second, but he couldn't have been sure.

"Don't be nervous," he soothed. "Besides, you've had much bigger solos before and you rocked every single one of those. This is just another performance."

She gave him a weak smile as they took their places for the first number that Rachel and Finn were going to sing. He was Tina's dancing partner for this, and they started off the number with each guy and girl facing different directions, the guy's arm around the girl's waist. He tilted his head toward the ground, just as the choreography indicated, and waited for the music to begin. The curtain rose slowly and he could hear the instrumentals swelling, and the number began with a bang. He kept his eyes trained either on the audience or on Tina as the music progressed and Rachel's powerful voice reverberated throughout the concert hall. He had long since memorized the dance moves, and he gave Tina a small smile as they ran through a particularly difficult spin, as they had spent nearly half an hour in his basement working on that one spin and had eventually collapsed on each other in a flurry of sweat and laughter and kisses. She returned the smile as Finn ended the song slowly, but instead of winding down, the music continued on a long note.

For a second, he had thought that the sound system had failed or something. It was actually extremely alarming because this was _nationals_, for god's sake. They couldn't afford any mistakes. But as the rest of the group did a sort of sidestep shuffle back, leaving just him and Tina in front, he was starting to get the idea that this wasn't unplanned. _What the hell was going on_?

He glanced over at Finn, who was backing up and giving him a knowing smile. Mike couldn't help but assume that this was all part of some crazy plan that he had _not_ been invited to be a part of. His assumption was confirmed when the music started swelling again and Tina opened her mouth and began singing, her gorgeous, _gorgeous_ voice filling his ears.

_'Cause I am your lady_  
_And you are my man_  
_Whenever you reach for me_  
_I'll do all that I can_

Was he supposed to keep going? Was he supposed to continue dancing while she sang? He was legitimately starting to panic, which he _never_ did during dance performances. But he could only assume that he was meant to keep dancing as the rest of the club pulled back, so Mike let his body take over as he freestyled a little with his moves, dancing fluidly to the slow music. He sneaked a peek out of the corner of his eye to see that the others were just swaying gently on the risers. As he performed on his own, Tina stood her ground, singing the solo _perfectly_ and he couldn't help but feel his pride for her just swelling enormously because this was exactly what she had wanted. She had wanted a well-deserved solo in front of thousands of people and to finally prove herself to the club, to Mr. Schuester, and to the _world. _And it certainly helped that she was staring at him dead in the eyes as she sang these words, as if she had written the lyrics herself and had wanted to imprint them in his memory.

_Lost is how I'm feeling, lying in your arms_  
_When the world outside's too_  
_Much to take_  
_That all ends when I'm with you_  
_Even though there may be times_  
_It seems I'm far away_  
_Never wonder where I am_  
_'Cause I am always by your side_

As she finished the next line, the rest of the club joined in and their voices swelled together as the number wound down and Mike _swore_ he wasn't tearing up. _Really_. Maybe his tear ducts were malfunctioning, he reasoned as the crowd erupted and he hugged Tina _hard, _dipping her down a little to kiss her full-on. She giggled breathlessly as they hurried off the stage behind the curtains, reveling in the sound of the audience's applause.

Everyone was staring at him expectantly, and it kind of killed him that _everyone_ had known about this, but that also meant that _she_ had planned this very elaborately. Even though Finn and Puck were patting him on the shoulder wordlessly and Kurt and Mercedes were bouncing on their toes with excitement, he only had eyes for Tina.

"You did this." What a stupid thing to say, he noted as the words left his mouth. Of course she did this. Of course his beautiful, incredible girlfriend had managed to serenade him in _New York freaking City_ in front of thousands of people.

Tina looked shyer than he had seen her in a very, very long time. Her cheeks were tinged pink, probably partially from the performance but probably also because he could not manage to tear his eyes away from her. "Yeah."

"Why?" He kind of realized that he sounded a little bit ungrateful, which he _totally_ wasn't, so he added, "Not that I'm complaining! I _loved_ it."

She hesitated for a moment. "You're always doing amazing things for me, Mike," she said as they exited backstage and walked down an empty corridor, their fingers laced together. "I guess I just wanted to show you- and everyone else in the whole world- how much you mean to me. I remembered how much I loved doing that ballad with you last year at regionals. So I talked to Mr. Schue about it a couple of weeks ago and he said it would add a touch of 'theatricality' to our performance."

"It was amazing," he replied earnestly. "But it was awfully risky. I had no idea what was going on. What if I had just fainted in shock?"

"That was the effect I was going for," she smiled, standing up on her tippy-toes to peck him on the cheek. "I wanted you to be surprised."

He stopped them in the middle of the hallway and hugged her. Hard.

His happiness grew exponentially when they returned to the stage and the judges announced that they would be continuing on to the next round, which meant that they would be performing their other number in less than an hour. Adrenaline did crazy, _crazy _things to him.

* * *

The second round didn't go quite as well. Not because they performed poorly or anything, but the school they were up against- a place out in New Jersey- reminded him ominously of Vocal Adrenaline in the sense that they were so seamless, they almost seemed programmed. The worst part was, their lead singer, a rather attractive blond girl with a vocal range that literally made everyone in New Directions start to panic, had belted out a number that had actually rendered the judges speechless. And, as they waited on stage next to the other group while facing the judges, Mike couldn't say that it looked good for them.

"And the winner of this round is... Sounds of Expression!"

Mike was only vaguely aware of the shrieking students on the other side of the stage. He glanced down at Tina, who he had his arm around, and she already had tears forming in her eyes. Exhaling deeply, he released his grip only for a second to clap graciously for the other group, but replaced his arm immediately after, squeezing her gently. She looked up at him, her mouth quivering.

"_It's okay_," Mike mouthed with a tiny smile. It was weird. Never in his life would he have imagined that glee club would have become such a huge part of his life. But now, as he watched the other group clamber off the stage in a flurry of excitement and he glanced at the rest of the New Directions and soaked in their sorrow, he knew that he would go on for the rest of his life telling stories about his high school glee club. Because even though he wasn't Rachel Berry and wouldn't end up becoming some sort of star, he had very effectively ended up making glee club his number one priority. Behind Tina, of course.

"_I know_," she mouthed back as the tears began to roll down her cheek. And Mike wanted so badly to make them disappear but he kind of knew that it was the best thing for her to just let them out.

Because even know they knew that winning nationals would have been a bit of a long shot, he also knew that the entire group had held tight to a shred of hope that maybe, just _maybe_ they would have a chance. This was their senior year- their last chance to do well in a competition, and now, it was over. It seemed too surreal to him, as if the entire moment was getting lost in a haze. Most of the girls (and Kurt) were crying, and Puck, Finn, and Sam all had their hands stuffed in their pockets and their eyebrows knit together in frustration. As they walked off the stage with their heads hanging low, Mr. Schue turned to them, walking backwards with a proud smile on his face.

"_Hey_, you guys did amazing today. And I know you're disappointed but I truly believe that you guys did your best. Now," he smiled as he gave both Rachel and Tina a quick pat on the back, who were both crying silently, "I say that we enjoy the rest of our time here in New York and congratulate ourselves on an incredible journey."

Everyone looked at each other, each exchange between them meaningful and kind of sad. They all knew Mr. Schue was right.

As they made their way to the bus, which was due to bring them back to the hotel, Mike took Tina's hand in his. "You were incredible today."

"Not incredible enough."

"_Tina_. You were amazing. And thank you," he added as an afterthought.

"For what?" Tina sniffed as she wiped her eyes slowly.

"For the surprise solo," he kissed the top of her head. "I loved it."

She gave him a watery smile that made his legs feel a little weak. Or maybe it was just that she looked so sad and wistful and it made him want to curl up with her and soak up all of her misery so that she wouldn't have to feel any of it.

"Maybe we can visit NYU and Tisch," he said suddenly, struck with inspiration. "You know, during our free time in the city."

He watched as she broke out into a huge grin, "I'd like that."

* * *

"Mr. Schue, please," Tina begged. "We just want to visit the campus, we won't get into any trouble."

"Why can't you take someone with you?" Mr. Schuester stared at the two of them dubiously, stroking his chin.

"Because no one else applied to New York schools," Mike reasoned.

"Rachel applied to Julliard!"

"Yeah, but no one wants to be the third wheel," Mercedes snorted.

Mike blushed a little but he glanced imploringly at Mr. Schuester. He wanted to spend some alone time with Tina, especially because if they were going to visit their potential colleges, sharing that moment with the rest of the New Directions would have made it a tad less significant.

"Sorry, guys," Mr. Schuester shook his head apologetically. "New York is just too dangerous."

Mike's face fell in disappointment but, he noticed suspiciously, Tina had a little half-smile on her face.

"Why are you smiling?" He finally asked when they had separated themselves from the group, walking over to the elevator.

"Change in plans," she grinned deviously. "Or rather, change in adventure."

"No ice cream?"

"Nope. We're going to go visit the campus instead."

* * *

They were sitting on a bench outside the Tisch Department of Drama building and it was painfully windy out. Mike had one arm slung over her shoulder and he could feel her shivering next to him. He had long since learned not to offer her his jacket, however, because each time he did toward the beginning of their relationship, she had offered him a fifteen minute tirade about the diminutive implications behind jacket-offering. So instead, he watched her shudder despite the hoodie she had tossed on before heading out from the hotel.

Sneaking out was actually a lot easier than Mike had originally anticipated. Finn and Puck snored more than anyone he had ever heard in his entire life, and by the time he had met Tina in the hallway, his room key in hand and her masking tape on his wrist, he felt an odd sense of anticlimax. As if had expected sirens to start wailing and jail cells to fall magically from the sky to trap him and Tina in the hallway. But, obviously, none of that happened and they left the hotel without a problem.

"Do you think I'm making a mistake?" Tina asked suddenly as she stared at the Tisch drama building before them.

"No," Mike responded immediately.

"You haven't even heard what the mistake is yet," she quirked an eyebrow, poking him in the stomach.

He grabbed her finger before she had a chance to retract, loving the sound of her giggle when he did so. "Yeah, but you don't make mistakes. You're _Tina_."

"_Mike_." Her forehead was wrinkled with concern. "D'you... d'you think maybe my dad's right?"

"About what?"

"That my dream to perform on Broadway someday is too far-fetched," she sighed.

"No," he said flatly. "Where is this coming from?"

"I guess... I guess losing at nationals was a bit of a reality check. Maybe I hold onto my dreams too tightly. What if I never make it? I won't have anything to fall back on. I won't be able to _support _myself."

"I'll support you," he smiled, kissing her cheek softly. Because in Mike's mind, Tina was the one person he would willingly spend the rest of his life with, even though to actually say that out loud would be kind of weird and very premature. And he would just as willingly support her until the day he died.

"I think you know me well enough to understand that I will _never_ depend on a guy to get by in life."

"I know."

"I just can't help but wonder how legitimate my dream is."

Mike stared at her for a moment while his mind reeled. There was something he wanted to mention very, very badly to get her to re-realize her dream, but it would be treading through dangerous territory, and he _hated_ to bring this kind of thing up. But she looked so crestfallen and her eyes betrayed so much uncertainty that he could kind of come to the conclusion that drastic times called for drastic measures.

"Tina?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you... do you remember when you printed out all that research for Artie?"

She didn't say anything for a moment, choosing instead to stare straight ahead. "Yeah."

"Do you remember why you did that?"

"Because... because I didn't want him to forget his dream to become a dancer," she said softly.

"And why did he forget that dream to begin with?"

"Because of his handicap."

"And do you remember what happened last Christmas?"

"He walked," she exhaled slowly. "For the first time."

"So... so don't you think," he hesitated a little, "that maybe if Artie can take little baby steps toward _his_ dream even though he's been told repeatedly that he'll never walk again, _you_ can take little baby steps toward _your_ dream, too?"

She was quiet for a while, and he was starting to get a little worried that maybe he had said something wrong. But Tina turned a little on the bench so that she was facing him, folding her legs under her arms and hugging them to her body. "You're incredible. Did you know that?"

He sighed in relief, reaching over to stroke her hair. "Does this mean you won't give up Broadway?"

She gave him a warm, beautiful smile. "It means that I'll try my best."

He felt her sink into his chest and he all too willingly wrapped his arms around her again as her breathing slowed. She was tired, he knew, and even though she had insisted from the start that there was no way that she'd fall asleep, he knew that she would be drifting off in no time.

He kept in eye on the time while she slept, sub-consciously memorizing the contours of her body despite the darkness that engulfed them.

* * *

**A/N: LONG chapter! :) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it- let me know what you thought. :)**

**There will most likely be one more chapter and then an epilogue, just so you know!  
**


	18. Chapter 18

With nationals over, Tina genuinely didn't see the point in going to school anymore. They still met a couple times a week after school just to do some casual numbers, and even though Tina adored the silly Backstreet Boys medley that Mr. Schue had put together for them last week, she was really starting to get tired of going to school just for _school_. In fact, even her _teachers_ seemed to be catching the second semester laziness that coursed through each senior's veins. The other day during math class, they spent the whole period watching Beauty and the Beast, partly because Mr. Park said that he had a headache and partly because he couldn't find any other movies in his storage closet. The last day of school was approaching, but not nearly quickly enough, and she found herself scratching out a countdown on a little post-it note that she kept next to her laptop.

Before she could even worry about graduating, however, she received an e-mail from Tisch. Tisch, much to her dismay, had not warned its applicants when they would be receiving their admissions response and because of this, the e-mail came as a total shock to her. When she had pictured receiving her decision months ago, she had imagined that she'd be waiting by her computer an hour in advance, refreshing the page until she received some sort of answer. But in reality, she had just finished dinner and was sitting at her desk, her Skype open with Mike on the other end, who was quietly working on his math assignment. She was checking her e-mail, her mind wandering, when she found it. It was just _sitting there_ in her inbox and she had to sort of shake her head rapidly before looking back at it to make sure it was still there. As her hands shook, she croaked out loud.

"M-mike?"

"Hmm?"

She said nothing as she opened up the e-mail and her eyes practically crossed as she attempted to read it. There was a link. A link to her online account for Tisch and she actually couldn't breathe at this point. As her hand flew up to her mouth in anticipation, she used the other to click the link and then returned her shaking fingers to the keyboard in order to type in the username and password.

"Tina? What's wrong?"

Often times, there would be a point, Tina knew, when the world stopped turning and even though scientifically it made no sense at all, she could fully vouch for it because she had experienced it firsthand on several occasions. The world stopped turning when she performed. She had known this ever since she was five and her mom had convinced her to take a ballet class and even though there were ten very uncoordinated little girls sharing one stage that night, she knew that the world could stop spinning on its axis for her performances, as self-centered as that sounded. That was how she fell in love with performance.

And, being Asian, the spinning would also stop whenever she got back a bad grade. Because even though she had a sort of I-don't-give-a-shit-about-what-other-people-think attitude, she cared _a lot_ about her grades. Maybe being Asian just involved having a dooming gene that was bound to bind her to an obsession with good grades for the rest of her life.

The last thing was Mike. Everything from his lips to his words to his smile to his complete and utterly dorky attitude. She knew this.

But this was something new. As she scrolled down the page and all she could see was the word "congratulations" over and over in her mind's eye, she could actually feel her throat catching on something non-existent because _oh my god_.

"Tina?" Mike's voice was laced with concern as he called to her again.

"_Mike_!" She squealed, jumping up and then onto her chair so that her feet landed awkwardly but she could have broken all of her limbs at this point and she wouldn't have given a damn.

"_What_? You're really starting to- _oh my god_. You got in, didn't you?"

She minimized her browser and excitedly opened up the Skype conversation to see Mike's face, which was betraying a huge smile that made her want to somehow jump through a portal in her computer so she could be hugging him. Tina nodded furiously and Mike made this weird gasping noise.

"_Tina!_ I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks, I-"

"Wait! Wait wait, I'm coming over."

"Wha-?"

Before she had any time to react, he had already ended the Skype call and she was left to sit there, not quite certain what to think but one hundred percent positive that this was the happiest she had been in a long, long time.

* * *

Mike's rejection letter from UCLA had shocked her to no end and she spent a good half hour with him after school bashing the UCLA admissions committee with fervor (she had slipped in a couple of inappropriate names that he had laughed good-naturedly about), but Mike's nonchalance startled her even more.

"_Please_ don't tell me you aren't upset about this because you're more focused on NYU."

"Sorry."

She groaned.

* * *

He told her that it was a sign that they were meant to be. Which she wanted to believe, but since she didn't ever really go for any of that fate crap, she just shook her head with a chuckle. Because even though her heart was in the process of over-inflating with every ounce of happiness that accompanied his acceptance to NYU, she wasn't ready to give up her steadfast belief that there was no such thing as fate.

"Aren't you happy?" He asked softly, scuffing the toe of his shoes against her driveway.

"More than you can understand."

"Then how come you look so sad?"

Tears were legitimately starting to form and fall down her cheeks, and as if she hadn't cried one too many times in front of him, she fell into his arms, her house and lawn and everything a haze in the background. He took her hand gently and pulled her down to the ground so that they were both sitting in the grass. She reached into her bag and pulled out a slightly crinkled envelope, handing it over to him and taking in his very confused stare.

"What's this?" He asked, opening it slowly and pulling out its contents.

After she had gotten into Tisch, he had sped over to her house in less than ten minutes and he had taken her out for coffee and that's when she realized. Actually, she realized a couple of things at that moment. One, that Mike Chang had this inexplicable ability to be there for her. All the time. And the second most important thing that she realized was that she was doing an awful job of showing her gratitude. So after he had dropped her off at home that night, she had gotten online and done some major Google searching.

"Are these... _Wow, _Tina!"

It had required quite a lot of string-pulling on her part, especially when she had clawed through her room to find enough cash to pay her parents back for the online order, but his face kind of made it all worth it. They were tickets to the Lima Community Theater's Dance Invitational, a competition that would showcase several locally famous dancers, which Mr. Schue had mentioned the other day during one of their extraneous glee rehearsals. The way his face had lit up was signal enough for her to realize that it would be perfect for him.

"What are these for?"

"...The Invitational," Tina stared, sniffling a little. "It says so on the tickets."

"No, no," he laughed. "Why did you get these for me?"

"A congratulatory gift for getting into NYU?"

"T, I just got in today."

Stumped, she ran her fingers through the ends of her hair slowly. "We're really doing this, aren't we?"

Clearly surprised by the change in subject, he cocked his head. "What do you mean?"

"_New York_. Together. _College_." She realized that the words that were coming out of her mouth were unorganized and slightly incoherent, but she gave him a pleading look and he smiled as if he understood.

"Of course we are," he squeezed his hand over hers. "The waiting's over, T. _This is it_."

It sounded corny and ridiculous in her ears, but she knew what he meant. She wiped away the last of her tears and sighed. "It doesn't scare you?"

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific, love. _What_ doesn't scare me?"

"Well, just the thought that-"

"-_wait_. This isn't going to be another tirade about how I'm 'giving up a lot' by wanting to be with you after high school, is it? Because _Tina_, it might scare me a little that we're finally moving onto a different chapter of our lives, and yeah, maybe it scares me a little that it's like a new step of commitment because I'm a _guy_, for what it's worth. But it's like the right kind of scary, you know? It's the kind of scary that means that it's something _big_ in our lives and we deserve to be a little scared, but it will _never_ be scary enough for me to want to end things with you."

She stared back at him defiantly, crossing her arms. "It doesn't scare you... that maybe you're picking the wrong girl? How are you so ready to do this when college is, like, the _perfect_ time to look for The One? What if she's out there at NYU? What if she's just _out _there _waiting_ for you?"

The look he was giving her was a little unnerving. "I'm done."

"You're... you're done?"

"I'm done looking," he shrugged. "I've already found her."

* * *

Even though senior year wasn't as easy as it was supposed to be, Tina had to hand it to her teachers- the majority of their second semester finals were an absolute breeze. Her math final was a survey about their opinions on the class. Their physics final was a project on anything applicable to physics that she had slapped together the night before it was due. The only _real_ final was English. Which did not surprise her one bit, seeing as how Mrs. Gallagher was a freaking demon from hell.

It was an essay test, which Tina had stressed out over for a good week, writing and re-writing notes and outlines even though there was a pool of six potential essay topics and they had no idea which one would be chosen on the day of the final.

She kind of hoped that Mrs. Gallagher wouldn't be grossed out by the dried up sweat that had soaked into the paper she had written her essay on.

* * *

She was cleaning out her locker, finding an unprecedented amount of crap and unidentifiable objects but also reminiscing her heart out as she pulled out the pile of post-it notes that Mercedes had slipped into her locker throughout the year, smiling as she read some of the silly things that Mercedes had scrawled on the multi-colored notes. There was a smushed granola bar that she vaguely remembered getting from Mike one day before glee rehearsal because she hadn't eaten all day due to the fact that she had spent the entire day studying for her last period math test. She also remembered completely forgetting about the granola bar because Mike had whisked her away from rehearsal and brought her home with him and honestly, it was hard to remember hunger when they made out.

"Hey! Tina!"

Artie's voice had become programmed into a little corner in her brain and she was pretty sure that she could pick it out from a crowd in a millisecond. "Hey," she smiled down at him. He was carrying his backpack on his lap as he wheeled toward her.

"I heard about Tisch. Congrats," he grinned. "Sorry I didn't congratulate you until now."

"Thanks," she smiled. "Hey! You haven't told me where you're going yet."

"Rutgers," he replied, adjusting his glasses. "I'm getting out of here, too."

"That's so great! Hey..." She hesitated for a moment. "Maybe when we're on vacation or something next year, you can visit New York- Rutgers is in New Jersey, right?"

"Yeah, it is. And I'd like that."

It made her feel kind of sad- all the months of friendship that she had missed out on with Artie. She knew that if they had remained friends, if none of the drama that came with dating him and then dating Mike, they would have spent hours and hours talking about college and applications and _everything_ but now... She barely even knew what state his school was in.

"Great," she paused. "And Artie? Are we-"

"-Yeah," his voice reassuring and warm and it just made her want to jump up and down with excitement. "Yeah, we are."

She bent down to hug him, which she remembered used to be awkward, adjusting to his impeding wheelchair, but was now natural and comfortable. She felt him rub her shoulder a little and now, she realized with relief, she could finally believe that they were okay.

* * *

Tina was rubbing her eyes. Hard. She's never had sight problems before and even though she had suffered her fair share of blindness-due-to-slanty-eyes jokes, she knew that her eyes rarely played tricks on her.

It looked _so pretty_. The way the curve of the five was flush up against the back of the nine. And it was in the red pen that had been alarming to her all year and now. Now, the red was warm and inviting and she was tempted to kiss the paper where her score was marked but she was pretty sure she would look like in idiot doing so.

As the bell rang and the class filed out, she lingered behind a little, casting a furtive glance toward Mrs. Gallagher, who was writing something down at her desk. Hurrying up to her desk, she cleared her throat awkwardly.

Mrs. Gallagher's head shot up, but when she saw Tina standing there, a small smile curled onto her lips. "Yes, Miss Cohen-Chang?"

"I just want to thank you for... for this. For being fair and for trusting me and-"

"-You're welcome."

She wasn't sure if she expected an apology from her or anything, but it didn't surprise her when Mrs. Gallagher turned back to her desk, losing eye contact with Tina and effectively ending the conversation. With a smile, Tina curled up her essay in her hands and stood there for a moment, pressing her lips together and muttering another thank you before hurrying out of the room, knowing that she wouldn't miss this class at all, but also knowing that she would never forget Mrs. Gallagher.

Mike was waiting outside the classroom, his lean frame against the wall and when he gave her an expectant look, she unfurled the essay for him to see and he broke out into an unreasonably big smile and kissed her fiercely and she was barely aware of the fact that she had dropped both her essay and her bag on the ground as he pushed her up against the wall, his lips moving with the same type of frenzy that she just so happened to be feeling as well.

* * *

Her last slushy came in a flurry of red and cherry and she could taste it on her lips as it dripped down her face. Mercedes' was purple and usually she would be fluently cursing about how it was damaging her weave but Tina was surprised when a slew of laughter replaced the usual swear words.

"What's so funny?" She spluttered as she spit some of the ice out of her mouth, wiping the syrup from her eyes.

"Nostalgia," Mercedes grinned. "That was probably our last slushy ever."

They stared at each other for a moment, taking in the mess of ice and corn syrup and simultaneously burst out into laughter, wrapping their arms around each other's shoulders as the walked into rehearsal.

"_Tina_!"

Mike had rushed up to her as soon as they walked in and he was already using his long fingers to help wipe away the sticky drink from her face but she swatted him away, choosing instead to run her tongue around her lips, picking up the artificial cherry taste, grinning at Mercedes.

"_What_ is so amusing?" Mike stared.

She said nothing, running her finger along the underside of her jaw to pick up some of the dripping slushy and lifting it up for him. He stared blankly at her for a moment but shook his head, laughing, before wrapping his mouth around her finger and sucking it straight off her finger.

* * *

The valedictorian of their class was a short, hyperactive nerd named Alan who was the only person in their school to get into a top ten university. Even though he was rather annoying as a person, he totally deserved it and he was quite the speech-maker as well.

As he went on about making true differences in the world and continuing their journey in education beyond school, Tina glanced over at Mike, who was just down the row, a couple of seats to her right, as they were seated alphabetically. He caught her gaze and winked, which managed to send a shiver down her spine as she smiled back and let her mind wander.

Alan was talking about decisions. Decisions in life and how they shaped people now and in the future. She couldn't help but think of Mike. And how he had decided to join the glee club, how he had rapidly become a part of her world and how if he had stayed true to football and being a jock, the best three years of her life would have been vastly different. She trusted him. More than anyone she had ever met in her entire life and now she knew that she trusted his decisions just as much. Trusted that he knew what was best for her, knew what was best for him, and knew what was best for _both_ of them. Because even though her mind had been riddled with doubt for the past year about college and their relationship, she was actually having a difficult time remembering why she had ever doubted. Tina glanced over at him again, looking unbelievably sexy in the red cap and gown, which was ridiculous to her because the gown was pretty much a potato sack and it looked horrendous on everyone else around them.

But that was the thing with Mike Chang. He was beautifully different from everyone else, and that made him all the more special.

* * *

**A/N: Yayy! Just the epilogue left, hope you all enjoyed!**


	19. Epilogue

**A/N: I just wanted to start off by saying thank you to anyone who has stuck by the story ever since the beginning! I hope I didn't bore you all too death with _Story Untold _and _A New Chapter_, and I also hope that you enjoyed it, because I've definitely had a blast writing these stories. So here's the epilogue! Enjoy. :)**

**

* * *

**Mike's feeding seventy-two people today. Seventy-two entrees, chicken or fish or a rice pilaf with veggies. Seventy-two salads, seventy-two bowls of soup. And seventy-two people's worth of champagne in tall, fluted glasses. He's not really big on champagne, but it's kind of an event protocol, so he shells out the money for it, anyway. Even though it may seem like he's griping about money today, he really, _really _isn't. Even though he's paid for center pieces and flowers and cake and a dizzying amount of other things, he's already worried about money prior to today. Today, it's not about his financial issues.

He's thankful for the gentle summer breeze that picks up, especially since his tux is suffocating him a little and he kind of feels like he needs to tear it off his body sometime soon or else he might end up passing out and that would _not_ be a convenient thing to do right now. He's also thankful for his mother, who is running the show today, which he totally needs because he's in the tent that's set up a good fifty feet from everyone else and he's constantly readjusting his bow tie, whether or not it's out of nervousness, he doesn't know. He's alone, though, and he can hear the gentle buzz of conversation coming from... well, from the seventy-two people out there who are waiting.

The ceremony is being held outside, which he kind of really likes, and it's out by a lake and there's a big arch laced with flowers and it's all very fairy tale-esque but in the best possible way. There are tables set up with long white table cloths and center pieces that he hadn't picked because he didn't understand them at all but apparently they were a pretty big deal. Actually, he had had very little to do with the planning because he was terrible at it, but he _did_ pick quite a lot for a pretty clueless guy.

His mom peeks her head into the tent, her gold dress is pleated neatly and her graying hair is piled up at the top of her head. She is positively beaming. "We're ready, Michael." Her cheeks are flushed with excitement, and he knows that his must look the same- everyone tells him that he's got his mom's facial structure and his cheeks are no exception.

"Okay," he says faintly as he follows her out the tent, where his dad is waiting.

His dad's not one to gush, really, and he chooses instead to pat Mike on the shoulder and grunt gruffly, "Proud of you, son."

Mike doesn't dwell on the moment for too long because his dad usually gets pretty awkward during sentimental moments like these so he smiles weakly and leads the way down the aisle that's set up. There are forty chairs on each side of the aisle- white plastic chairs that he finds kind of tacky but they were easily accessible and no one really seemed to mind, anyway. As he walks down the aisle, his mother on his left and his dad on his right, the crowd of people grow silent, shushing each other in a flurry of noise. He's feeling kind of sheepish, really, but he distracts himself with the gentle arpeggios that the band is playing.

Never in his life had ever been surrounded by so many people he knew and loved. It's a little unnerving, quite honestly, and he almost feels like he'll trip in the middle of the aisle and make a complete fool out of himself, but if there's anything he can pride himself in, it's his coordination, so he keeps faith.

On his left is pretty much of all of his extended family. His parents had helped his grandparents, four of his aunts and uncles, and a couple of cousins fly in from China and they're all giving him this same goofy, excited look. On his right are _friends_. College classmates that he had grown extremely close to, new work friends, and several others that are all beaming up at him.

Perhaps the most important guests of all after his family, a group of the most incredible people he's ever had the fortune to meet, aren't sitting in the crowd at all. They're lined up at the front already, the girls on the left and the boys on the right. The girls are wearing gold dresses and the boys are wearing gold ties and they match rather nicely. Even though that's probably not something he should be focusing on right now. When he reaches the altar, he pivots on his heel so that he's facing the center, nodding briefly to the minister, who is standing before them all with an enigmatic expression on his face. His parents give him a quick smile before sitting down in their designated chairs and suddenly, the band is switching songs.

The new song has no melody. The steel drums are playing a soft harmony and the guitar is riffing a couple of chords and he smiles faintly when the voices begin. Finn starts, of course, and as he begins singing the first of the words, Mike can't help but feel himself rush down memory lane.

_It's a beautiful night,  
we're looking for something dumb to do  
Hey baby,  
I think I wanna marry you._

Mike isn't actually sure how they had managed to settle on this song instead of the usual _Here Comes the Bride_ that gets played at most weddings. He thinks it may have had something to do with Rachel insisting that whoever from the glee club got married first _needed_ to have this song sung as a tribute to the wedding they had performed at several years ago, and so he had agreed and now here they were, their voices just as he had remembered them. It's as though they're marrying of Carole and Burt again, but each voice has a certain lilt to it that distinguishes it from their voices ten years ago.

He keeps his eyes trained down the aisle in anticipation, but he doesn't have to wait for long because she's already appeared, and even though Mike was originally really annoyed by the whole rule about not being able to see the bride until she walks down the aisle, he appreciates it infinitely more now because she is every kind of breathtaking. And if he had caught a glimpse of her before, the effect would not have been quite as mind-blowing, and for that he is grateful.

Her dress? Incredible. She's twenty-six already and she still likes to complain about the weight she may or may not have gained back in college, but all he can see are the same gorgeous curves that he's known and loved, the same delicate hands, the same graceful posture. Her veil is covering her face, and he can actually feel his body aching to see it. He has half a mind to sprint down the aisle and lift the veil so he can attach his lips to hers because he just _knows_ that she's looking beautiful as always today.

But he waits. And even though everyone has stood for her as she walks down the aisle, he swears the entire crowd could have altogether disappeared and he wouldn't even have noticed. He's got eyes for her and only her and she's taking a painful amount of time to get up to the altar but when she finally arrives, it takes all of his energy to prevent himself from touching her.

The minister starts ("_Dearly beloved..._") and Mike can sort of see her smiling through her veil. He does his best to clamp his hands to his side and offers her a little smile as well, still taking in her presence when she lifts the veil back and he gets a load of her beautiful, beautiful face. She is... just _wow_.

When the minister prompts her to read her vows, Mercedes shuffles to her side and hands her a slip of paper and she's looking at him intently before beginning.

"Mike," she begins, her voice as melodious and soothing as ever, "I used to think that you entered my life by accident. That if it hadn't been for the fact that you had slipped me your number during math class or the fact that you had joined the glee club back in high school, we wouldn't be together today. I don't think that anymore. I think that you and I happened for a lot of reasons- and you know I don't believe in fate, but I do believe in devotion. I believe in every moment we spent together and every attempt we made to make our relationship work. I believe in every day we share. I believe in _you_, Mike Chang. And that's why I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

He's not welling up. He swears to god he's not, because men don't cry and he's a man and there are _seventy-two_ people staring at him, for god's sake, and no way in _hell_ he's going to cry in front of all of them. Matt is suddenly by his side, nudging the piece of paper into Mike's shoulder but Mike shakes his head. A little confused, Matt retreats.

"I fell in love with you in that math class ten years ago," he says softly. "And I continued to fall in love with you every moment from that point on. Each day I kept telling myself, 'There's no way this girl could be any more incredible', and you just proved me wrong every single day for ten years. Originally, I would have thanked you for coming into my life... But now, I just want to thank you for _becoming_ my life. I want to be with you forever- I want to laugh with you and cry with you, I want to wake up with you every morning and fall asleep by your side every night. I want to watch you succeed in Broadway, because I know you will, and I want to come home to your smiling face every day. I want to grow old with you," his voice cracks a little, and he totally doesn't even care that it makes him sound like a sissy because she's already tearing up in front of him and he feels like he's going down the same path. "Tina Cohen-Chang...I promise to love you for the rest of my life."

There is a haze of sighs from the crowd and words from the minister and rings being placed on each other's fingers but all he knows is that the next thing that's happening is that he's being told to kiss the bride and _hell yes_, he will. He's got both hands on her cheeks and he's cradling her face before swooping down and kissing her full-on and she tastes sweet and good and even though he knows he's not supposed to be kissing her for all that long, it is only when the minister clears his throat that breaks the two of them apart. There are appreciative chuckles from a couple of their friends, but it's not like he cares at all because he's got Tina locked in a tight embrace and everyone in the area breaks into applause and he can hear whooping and cheering but he can effectively tune them all out when she whispers into his ear.

"I love you."

* * *

**A/N: FIN. **

**Hope you enjoyed it and thanks again for reading. 3  
**


End file.
